


A New World

by kittyface27



Category: One Piece
Genre: Akuma no Mi | Devil Fruit, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Apocalypse, Crime, Drama, End of Days, Gen, Implied/Referenced Terrorism, M/M, Minor Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace, Murder, Self-Defense, Surprise Ending, Suspense, Violence, War, World Government, college students, corrupt leaders, fugitive characters, out of control abilities, romance on the very side, the planet is destroyed, us vs them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:00:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24517315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittyface27/pseuds/kittyface27
Summary: After strange, power-granting fruits pop up all over the modern world, chaos ensues. The government collapses, the planet is wrecked beyond repair due to earth-shattering earthquakes, and the war of "us vs. them" erupts, destroying life as everyone knows it. The world changes drastically, molding into one unrecognizable. M for graphic violence and ideologically sensitive content.
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco & Monkey D. Luffy, Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco & Shirohige | Whitebeard | Edward Newgate, Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Garp & Monkey D. Luffy, Monkey D. Garp & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Shirohige | Whitebeard | Edward Newgate, Portgas D. Ace & Shirohige | Whitebeard | Edward Newgate
Comments: 18
Kudos: 77





	1. The Appearance of Devil Fruits

**Warning: contains graphic violence and potential ideologically sensitive content.**

**Here with a shorter story. I wish it was longer, but it just didn't end up that long. It's dystopian in many ways. I've never written a story like this, but I think the idea is good. It's fast paced. So, the world still has different countries but is all under one government. The different countries are just the land being divided into sections. So it takes place in America, but everywhere is under one government. Established Marco x Ace on the side but definitely not the focus of the story. Enjoy~**

* * *

"Shit," Ace hissed, looking at the score for the test he'd just failed. He put his head in his hands with a sigh, and then, maybe too roughly, closed his laptop and laid his head on the table. It was his last class of his last semester and he was nearing an F, with only half the semester left to fix it. He didn't know if he could.

Marco put his hand on his back. "You'll get it, Ace," he said kindly, and then turned back to his own homework. Ace thanked him with another sigh, and then opened his laptop again, typing in the password and closing out the page of his unfortunate test score, even though he'd studied and it was an open book test.

Suddenly, the whole house shook, and things fell off shelves, and car alarms went off outside. There were no fault lines near where they lived, and there had never been an earthquake in that part of the country before, so it was weird to say the least.

"You okay?" Marco asked, and Ace nodded.

"Lu?! You okay?!" Ace called, and they heard what sounded like a "yes" from down the hall. He, Ace and Marco all shared a house, Gramps paying for them since he wasn't around and it was the only way he helped them, but they were more family. Ace and Marco were together while Luffy was Ace's younger brother.

Ace assumed he was playing video games, and the power was still on or he'd be having a fit over losing his game. All three of them were in college, and it pissed Ace off that Luffy was good at tests, so he passed. Didn't do any homework or projects, but aced the tests, while his older brother worked hard on everything yet still struggled.

But he didn't hate his brother, and was proud he was passing. Just not proud of his tactics. They'd never tell Garp that or he'd throw a huge tantrum and possibly hurt Luffy. Ace turned back to his computer and opened the news, to see where the earthquake had hit.

But there was nothing on the news about it, even though it should be breaking. Any earthquake is major news, and shouldn't one near no fault lines be addressed immediately? "There's nothing on the news about the quake," Ace said in surprise.

"It's trending on twitter, though," Marco said, looking at his phone. "Holy crap," Marco mumbled, and showed his phone to Ace when he made a questioning noise. "What the hell kind of earthquake does that?"

The photo someone had posted was of a destroyed neighborhood, only half of it gone, starting in one house that had messed up the rest of the neighborhood. It didn't really look like an earthquake, but what else could it be?

"Did anyone see anything there?" Ace asked, handing the phone back to his boyfriend. Marco scrolled down the page, looking for any first hand witnesses. Most were just people freaking out, making conspiracy theories.

Marco shook his head. "The only person who survived was an old man who lived alone. Everyone else in the neighborhood is dead," he said sadly. Ace sighed. It was sad, but it was concerning that it happened in the first place. "I'm sure someone will figure out what caused it soon. At least it wasn't here or anything."

Ace nodded, agreeing. But he did wonder why an old man survived but others didn't. Must be a very tough old man. He went back to his work, as did Marco. They had things to do, they couldn't be hung up on a mystery that didn't affect them. But no one had figured out what caused it. And there were no witnesses.

-x-

Marco was sitting with Ace at their usual table out on campus, on the grassy hill, both eating. They were cramped for classes, and both had an english class in less than fifteen minutes. Barely a break to walk to the next class, let alone have lunch.

They both bought apples, but that was it. They were in a time crunch and couldn't have full meals. They'd have a big dinner if necessary, but both were used to not having any lunch, even if Ace adored stuffing his face. He wished he could be like Luffy and eat at a rapid pace that would make normal people feel sick.

Luffy was in his running class right now. They didn't share any classes, sadly. Though Ace had a feeling he might be embarrassed by being in the same class as his little brother. He loved him, but Luffy was a moron. A loveable one, but a moron nonetheless. Both Ace and Marco ate their apples while looking at their phones, but both soured and looked at what they were holding in their hands.

"The fuck?" Ace asked, looking at the intricate, orange _thing_ that had just been an apple. It tasted horrible. Marco's was a light blue, but a completely different shape than Ace's. Marco was just as shocked, since their apples just suddenly were clearly not apples anymore. "Tastes like shit, but I swallowed it."

Marco nodded, he'd swallowed his bite as well. "I hope it's not poisonous or anything," he commented. Ace took a photo of it, and had to admit it looked pretty cool. He googled the photo, and found similar photos had been posted on social media, but there was no explanation as to what they were.

There were many that looked very different, but all had that almost artsy design. Like they were drawn, not real. But they'd been popping up everywhere for the last week. "Marco, looks like this is happening to other people!" Ace exclaimed in surprise. "Look," he said and showed Marco all of the photos of the strange fruits. Because they seemed like they were still fruits, even if they weren't familiar to anything Ace or the internet recognized.

Marco looked at the corner of Ace's screen. "We'll be late, we should go," Marco said,and both of them stuffed the nasty fruits into their backpacks before hurrying off to their classes. Ace felt weird, a little hot. And it was still spring, so not too hot outside. He hoped he wasn't going to get sick. He couldn't afford to miss any school, for any of his classes.

Ace sat next to Marco in their english class, both taking notes even though ace had started to feel hotter, so much that he was sweating heavily. Marco's eyes were wide open and his movements jerky, like he had too much energy to just sit down. Halfway through the session, he left for a bit.

When he came back, Ace looked at him curiously. _Went on a walk_ he wrote on his piece of paper, then both got back to work on notes on the book they were reading, which Ace hated. Once they were finally done with the class, Ace sat down against the wall of the hallway, sweating an embarrassing amount, soaking his shirt.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Marco asked in concern, finally noticing what he couldn't see in the semi-darkness of the classroom.

"Really hot," Ace said simply. Marco put his hand on Ace's forehead, and then pulled it back. Ace felt his own forehead, but it didn't feel too hot to him. But Marco was very concerned. "What is it?" Ace asked, seeing Marco's wide eyes.

"I think you have a bad fever," Marco replied. "Let's go to the heath enter and get your temperature taken." Since it was a free doctor's visit, Ace was fine with that, and the two headed to the clinic, Ace dripping sweat as they walked. He knew it was inappropriate, but he took his shirt off on their walk. It was too hot, as it was long sleeved.

When they got there, the two were surprised to see Luffy sitting there, swinging his feet back and forth in the chair he was sitting in, waiting to see someone for some reason. Ace stopped to ask him why he was there, but Marco ushered him to the window to ask to see someone and get his temperature taken to see if his fever was as bad as Marco said.

Ace was told to wait to see someone, and he went and sat next to Luffy and Marco. "Why are you here? Are you sick?" Ace asked in worry, but Luffy shook his head.

"I don't think I'm sick, but I feel weird," Luffy replied honestly in a simple voice, not sounding worried at all about whatever made him come there. He opened his bookbag, shoving trash and crumpled papers aside as he pulled out a purple fruit. "I ate this and then didn't feel good," he said, holding up what was clearly something similar to those that Ace and Marco ate.

Marco's eyebrows raised, and he pulled his own out. "We ate one as well. Do you guys think they've gotten us sick?" he asked in worry. Ace pointed out that Marco wasn't sick. Ace was about to be called in when he looked at his thumb to see there was a flame on it, burning across his skin.

He caught Luffy's arm stretching and hitting the floor beside him. Marco saw both, and grabbed them both by their shirts and pulled them outside. "We're going home," he said simply.

"Wow! Look at what I can do!" Luffy exclaimed as his head fell backwards. Ace screamed, and then his whole hand caught on fire. He screamed again, and started shaking his hand to try and get the fire off, not registering that he wasn't in pain.

Marco was freaking out, losing his usual composure as his boyfriend was on fire and his friend/brother-in-law's body was becoming disfigured. He threw Luffy over his shoulder, and ushered Ace to hurry to someplace secluded. The fire wouldn't go out, and soon Luffy's head was close to dragging on the ground, his neck stretched so far.

He was the only one that seemed unconcerned. They got to the car, and Marco shoved them inside, the fire gone out on Ace, who was in shock and worry. Luffy was back to normal, laughing about the whole thing. "That was fun!"

"No it wasn't!" Ace shouted back, and they got into an argument as Marco tried to calm the situation. He suggested they go home now before they caused a huge scene. Luckily, no one had been in the parking lot and the health center was far from the busy parts of campus.

The ride home was tense, and what they heard on the radio didn't help. Marco turned it off when it started to talk about someone bombing a Walmart without any explosives on hand. They didn't need to hear about terrorism when they were already freaking out.

They were on the freeway when Marco's arms suddenly disappeared, and turned into blue flames, looking like feathers. They all screamed, Luffy finally taking this seriously. Ace grabbed the steering wheel from the passenger's seat, but the car was out of control, and swerved, flying off of the road and into the forest on the side of the freeway, the car rolling and compacting as it hit trees.

Ace heard ringing in his ears, and then opened his eyes, in shock. He looked at himself to see a piece of metal embedded in his gut, only there was no blood, only flames where the entrance wound should be. Marco was in the same state, glass and shrapnel sticking out of his arms, which were back to normal.

Ace was in shock, and turned around to see Luffy was wide awake and looking confused, only a small cut on his face. Ace undid his seatbelt, and the piece of metal pulled out of his skin, showing he was perfectly fine. "Marco," he said, shaking his boyfriend awake. "Marco, wake up."

The blonde jerked awake, and looked down at his flaming body. Ace climbed out of the car, since it was on it's side, and out of the broken passenger's side door. He was perfectly fine, even if his clothes were shredded. He went to the other door and helped Luffy get out. Marco climbed out next, looking confused and frightened.

Their car was completely totalled. It was so lucky they had Ace's truck, even if it wasn't as nice as Marco's car had been. They all just stared at it in shock, looking down at their intact bodies. Hopefully none of them had head injuries or anything like that. Just because they all seemed fine didn't mean they were.

They heard shouting from the hill, and found a group of people asking if they were alright, having seen the car go off the freeway and into the trees. "We're okay. We got lucky," Marco said smoothly, adapting to the situation like a pro.

The car was smoking, and Ace hurried forward and got their backpacks out of the trunk, which was relatively in good condition. They couldn't afford to pay for the car as well as new textbooks. Ace looked at the car, brows furrowed. What the hell was going on? What happened to Marco's arms? Why was he completely fine, and Marco had been stabbed as well.

Luffy had his hands behind his head, whistling like there was nothing wrong. Like their bodies weren't being messed up, or they hadn't just gotten in a serious car accident. He brought the bags to his brother and boyfriend, who was talking with the people.

The police had been called, and an ambulance would be arriving soon. The three insisted they didn't need it, but they would just get their heads checked out, since they clearly didn't have any cuts or broken bones.

They stood at the side of the road behind the railing they'd crashed through. The ambulance and cop cars showed up, and they were inspected and questioned. Marco said he'd suddenly lost control of the wheel and the car just flew right over the side. It was the truth, just hiding the _flaming arms_ part.

It was so lucky their bodies behaved while they were in the presence of cops and EMTs. Ace hadn't caught on fire and Luffy's body stayed normal. The moment Ace's thumb lit on fire, the moment he didn't feel sick or hot anymore. What the hell was happening?

All three of them were cleared after having their heads checked up on, seeing if their pupils reacted right. They were perfectly fine, and a camera crew was there, documenting their survival. Ace and Marco didn't like that, afraid something would happen and everyone would know. They couldn't let anyone know of this or they'd be seen as freaks, perhaps hunted after by the world government. But that was unlikely. They lived in a democracy, they wouldn't take away their rights like that. Hopefully.

They were driven back to their place, bodies normal, by the police, after hours with the tow truckers, and others who helped get the car out of the woods. It cost a lot to get the car replaced, since there was absolutely no way it could be fixed, as it was completely totalled. None of them did their homework that night, just stayed in the living room, watching TV without paying attention.

Ace was terrified of lighting on fire and burning down the house or his brother and boyfriend. They didn't live in an apartment, so it would just be them in trouble. Plus, they lived a ways out from any neighbors, so their houses wouldn't burn down if Ace lost control. But he cared more about the safety of his loved ones than personal belongings, even though losing everything would suck.

Luffy played with his body, stretching his fingers or earlobes. Marco could do nothing about his, since it hadn't come back yet. Ace's hair flickered on fire, and he poured water over his head to stop it. After a while of silence besides the TV, Ace got on his phone and looked on twitter, wanting to see if there was anything about the weird fruits. If other people had strange things happen to them as well.

There were multiple posts in a trending hashtag of _Fruits From the Devil._ Apparen'tly it was originally brought up by a religious association, but it had caught on and now twitter users were using it. There were not many videos, but there were a few that some people had posted.

One was of a hand turning a rock into a piece of bread. There was no face, just the hand. Ace convinced himself it was fake. Another was of a leopard laying on the couch. "Lucci! Here, boy!" and then the camera was flown across the room from the leopard jumping the camera man. Ace didn't know why that was here.

Then there were posts, and news clips. An entire marine ship had been melted by lava, and no one knew how. More earthquakes were reported from across the country this time, far from the first. Everyone suspected that these fruits from the devil had caused strange powers.

It wasn't much later that all three of their phones went off with emergency alerts. They were loud and startled all three of them. They read to report sightings of any of the fruits. They were using the term devil fruit as well. Looked like that was their name now.

Ace looked at his devil fruit, eyebrows drawn together. "I have a bad feeling," he said simply. Luffy was serious and nodded as well. Marco sighed and leaned his head back against the couch, agreeing.

The three decided to skip school the next day, but they found out it had been cancelled after waking up. There was no clear reason as to why, but they were glad they wouldn't be missing any classes. Ace hadn't caught on fire during the night, which he was so glad of. Marco had woken up on fire, only it was blue and didn't burn Ace. He wasn't going to tell Ace but he woke up from the brightness.

Ace wasn't one to be optimistic, so he didn't reassure Marco everything would be fine. He felt that would be a flat out lie, and he wouldn't do that. When he went to wake Luffy, he found his head dropped off the bed and resting on the floor. That would take a long time to get used to. It looked like crapy quality, horror movie CGI, even though it was in real life.

"Lu, get up," Ace said. "It's ten, you gotta get breakfast," Ace said, putting his head back on the bed where it snapped back into place. His skin felt different, was very squishy and smooth. It felt like rubber. Well, Luffy's new _thing_ seemed much more harmless than Ace's. They hid the devil fruits in the crawl space, so no one found them and knew they had these powers.

Ace turned on the news while they ate breakfast on the couch. They didn't notice Luffy eating three boxes of cereal and six pieces of toast as Ace and Marco solely focused on the TV. "Look! I can eat forever!" Luffy cheered, and the others looked over to see his stomach was distended by eating so much food.

Ace sighed as he watched Luffy lay with his fat stomach. He wished his power was like Luffy's, and didn't seem to be able to hurt anyone. Halfway through Marco's second serving of eggs, he shouted as his face elongated into a beak until he was a giant bird, crouched on the couch.

Luffy, ever lighthearted, pointed at him and started to laugh while Ace stared at the bird with wide eyes. "Marco's a bird! Hahahaha!" Luffy cackled, and Ace slammed his fist into his head. But his fist bounced back and hit himself, only to go right through his body, hand inside the fire he seemed to be made of.

Marco was panicked, but soon changed back to normal. He put his face in his hands, hunched over. "A bird? Seriously?" he asked quietly.

"You looked like a phoenix," Ace said lightly, wanting to make Marco feel better. Their powers were so different. Luffy's was weird, while Ace was made of fire and Marco could turn into a flaming bird. Marco groaned, not feeling any better from the observation.

They were brought out of their conversation and misery when an interview started on the news, with someone who claimed to have eaten one of the devil fruits. The three went silent and turned the volume up on the TV.

"So, you have eaten one of these so-called 'devil fruits'?" she asked, even though the news anchor already knew the answer.

"That's right. I can turn into a giraffe," the man said, though they didn't give his name. "It's hard to control, and I crashed my car from the sudden transformation."

"And what do you feel about it?" she asked in interest, even though Ace could clearly see the disgusted look underneath her professional demeanor. Ace frowned at it, but said nothing. The giraffe man said he liked it, thought it was cool. "What do you think you'll do with it?"

"I don't think I'll do anything with it. It will just be cool to use," he said simply, not noticing her demeanor. She was faking it, she clearly didn't like him for having that fruit. Ace looked down at his hands, seeing flickers of flame there.

Marco was looking at twitter, seeing the comments on this segment. "I really don't think anyone should find out about us," he said. The segment had ended, short and simple. "Some of the comments are pretty bad. Some are suggesting hunting down the devil fruit users and jailing them, or killing them."

Luffy frowned, and Ace rubbed his hair, but didn't give any words of reassurance or kindness. Things would only get worse, Ace had a feeling. He got a pop up on his phone from the news channel he followed on facebook. "Looks like the identity of the earthquake man was found. Edward Newgate," he said.

"There haven't been any new earthquakes today, at least yet. Hopefully he learns to control it. Having dangerous powers could be bad," Marco said. Ace winced, and Marco frowned, apologizing for being insensitive. "Sorry, babe. I wasn't thinking," Marco said sincerely.

Ace shook his head, saying it was the truth. They were silent for a bit before Ace went to take a bath. He and Marco had the master bedroom, so they had the nice bathroom. Luffy had the hall bathroom, and it was a mess and the other two never went in there. He filled the tub, and then when he stepped in, he felt all of his energy drain away until he was limp the water, unable to move.

He felt so exhausted, but not in a way you would be tired and want to sleep. He assumed this was because of the devil fruit, but he'd need to have one of the others try it as well just to make sure his hypothesis was correct. Well, at least if it is, water would weaken him and not let him be on fire.

They kept the news off all day and did their best to pretend things were normal and Ace and Marco weren't being eaten alive by worry and anxiety. They did their homework and turned it in, Marco helping Ace, like usual. Even Luffy got his done before playing his games. It was an achievement to get him to do any work.

Ace told Marco about the bath, and Luffy decided he'd try. His tub was dirty but it didn't matter to him and he took a bath, needing help getting out like Ace had. "We won't be able to go swimming anymore!" the youngest complained loudly, glaring at the tub of water before he drained it and stomped away and into his room, slamming the door closed.

"Seriously, _that's_ what's got him upset about all of this?" Ace asked in disbelief. Marco shook his head, though neither could really say they were surprised. Marco was about to kiss him when Ace's phone rang. It was the Jaws ringtone, alerting him that it was Gramps calling. He sighed, and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Ace! I'm sure you know what's going on now?" Garp asked. He was a marine vice admiral, and was an important figure in the navy, so he had a lot of control. He also had direct contact with the five presidents of the world.

"Yeah, I've been keeping up with the news," Ace replied, putting it on speakerphone so Marco could hear as well.

"If you come into contact with any devil fruit freaks, I want you to stay far away, alright? We don't know anything about them, and already have people using them for evil purposes," Garp said bluntly. Ace frowned at him being called a freak. He knew Gramps didn't know, and wouldn't know, but it still hurt. Ace didn't exactly want this to happen.

"Alright, got it. I've seen photos of them, so I will know if I see one of the fruits," Ace lied smoothly. Well, he was telling the truth but leaving out a huge factor. That he already had come into contact with one, and he was now a so-called "freak", in Garp's words. He thanked Ace, and wished him good luck with school.

Garp may be their guardian, but he was very hands off. Ace and Luffy had basically lived by themselves their whole lives. Garp visited rarely and sent them money to help out without having to really do anything that a grandfather who had custody would do. Both brothers knew his job was more important to him than family.

Not that they were exactly missing him, since he could be really mean and outright abusive. Ace had pretty much raised Luffy, even though he was only three years older. He hung up, and sighed, Marco hugging him. "I'm sorry, baby," he said.

Ace shrugged, but then hugged him back. "It's not like I'm surprised. If the government sees these as bad, then Gramps would as well. We just can't let him figure it out." Ace knocked and entered Luffy's room, seeing him playing his game with an angry face. "Lu, -"

"I heard. I won't say anything to him about it," he said in a grumpy voice. Ace frowned, hating seeing Luffy sad. It hurt, and he wanted to get rid of the frown, but there was nothing to do right now. He felt the same, so he couldn't assure him that things would get better. Morale was low.

Ace left the room, leaving Luffy to play angrily. He closed the door, and turned around to be in Marco's embrace. But he didn't assure him things would be okay either. Ace and Marco didn't fool themselves with anything, and knew when or when not to take something lightly.


	2. When The Earth Crumbles

**Sixcupsofcoffeetogo: Thanks!**

* * *

**Since it's a really fast paced story, lots of shit happens. Enjoy~ (Sorry I'm a day late!)**

* * *

Throughout the day, their phones went off like crazy. Luffy shut his off, and Ace almost decided to as well. But he needed to know what was going on in the world. Marco did as well, so they got their phones on, and checked each alert. Somehow, it seemed a lot of the devil fruit users were bad guys. There had been multiple shootings with people using powers like Ace's, where the bullets went right through them. It was a mess, and Ace eventually isolated himself in their room, under the covers. But he was unable to stop looking. He couldn't bring himself to put his phone down, when he knew he should.

The videos and posts on twitter about people who had eaten one of the cursed fruits had been taken down, most likely for safety reasons, as more fruits were unveiled at rapid speeds, more and more threats were made. More fear, with every villain who used their power for criminal activity. This was going to be incredibly messy.

School had been canceled for the rest of the week as it became clear more and more devil fruits were discovered. And though it seemed like they were everywhere, per capita, there were not many fruit users. At least those who had been exposed or exposed themselves. While Luffy was happy school was out, Ace and Marco wanted a real distraction.

Though they would be exposed, too, if they lost control. And with Ace's fruit being hazardous, he would be in big trouble. Marco could turn into a flaming bird, so his devil fruit probably wouldn't be seen as super dangerous or powerful. He was afraid for his safety and his brother and boyfriend. Theirs weren't dangerous.

He'd seen too many movies. There was no way the government would do any dystopian shit. He fell asleep, and when he woke up, Marco was in bed with him, reading. Ace could tell his phone was shut off, as was Marco's. He looked up and grabbed his wrist when Ace reached for his phone on the nightstand. "No. You need a break," Marco said sternly. Ace pouted, but knew he was right.

He was cooking dinner for them when he flamed up, though it was only him on fire, and it didn't smoke, so the alarm above him didn't go off. Luffy backed away from him, and Marco calmly dumped water on him, only it flared back up. He got a fire extinguisher in the closet next. Ace didn't move a single step. He was on the tile, so carpet or wood flooring didn't catch on fire.

When Marco attempted to put the fire out, it flared up before dying out. Only it lashed out and encompassed Marco's whole arm. Luffy and Ace shouted his name, but watched as the burn healed over in blue flames until there wasn't anything there, looking again like a blank canvas. But his shirt was destroyed, the sleeve burnt off.

"That was cool!" Luffy exclaimed. Ace wiped the tears, so relieved he didn't horrifically burn Marco. But Luffy was seemingly made a rubber, he could get burnt. Ace would be very careful around him, but he was already pretty careful.

Marco kissed Ace sweetly. "I'm fine. And nothing else caught on fire. The smoke alarm didn't even go off," he said kindly. Ace nodded, and looked at the chicken. It was ruined. It was on the stove too hot for too long.

"Fuck," Ace sighed, turning the stove off. "Can we order pizza tonight?" he asked, not really wanting to cook anything more. Marco nodded, and Luffy cheered about pizza. The blonde called and ordered while Ace sat on the couch, carrying the extinguisher over with him. Luffy sat next to him and gave him a hug.

"It'll be so cool when you can control that! Like, you could make s'mores whenever you wanted!" Ace smiled fondly.

"I guess that's true," he said simply. Marco came over and flopped down on the other side of the couch. They ended up just playing card games while they waited for the food to come. No one had checked their phones in hours, and Ace knew Marco was right. He'd needed a break. Luffy sucked at card games, so Marco and Ace pretty much played by themselves while pretending Luffy was also playing. He fell for it, the idiot he was. Only Ace thought that fondly. He loved Luffy, his baby brother.

When the food came, Marco opened the front door to pay, and came back to the living room with a frown on, which he hadn't had before answering the door. Ace asked what the problem was. "That guy was wearing a button that had a drawn devil fruit inside of an X mark circle."

Luffy pouted. "That's stupid," he said simply, and Ace had to agree. After that, and after eating some of the two pizza boxes, he said he had to use the bathroom, but actually went to turn his phone on and check the news.

There were a lot of updates, and the one with the most attention was a video of what seemed to be a velociraptor attacking a woman, holding her down. There was a gunshot, which seemed to be a shotgun, and it hit the _dinosaur_ in the head, killing it. Then it morphed into a human, and the fruit was laying on the ground next to him. Ace had his hand over his mouth.

He watched as a fight broke out with people who had been watching in horror go after the fruit, resulting to violence to try and get the fruit, stepping over the previous owner. One was shot with the shotgun from the man who killed the fruit user before. He killed him for the fruit, and everyone ran. Ace frowned deeply. What if that happened to everyone? What if people started killing devil fruit users to steal their powers. If the things reformed after death, then anyone could get it.

Marco walked up behind him, and looked at him with disapproval. "I had to!" Ace defended himself. "And I got some important information. There was a raptor devil fruit user."

"A bird?" Marco asked, thinking of the wrong raptor.

"No, a velociraptor. A fucking _dinosaur!_ And he got killed, the devil fruit reformed, and people got into a fight for it!" Marco was shocked, though they really shouldn't be. Marco could turn into a mythical creature, why would dinosaurs be surprising?

"No more news tonight. You look sick," Marco chided, not replying to the disturbing information. Ace pouted and crossed his arms.

"I'm an adult, I can do what I want," he huffed immaturely. Marco sighed.

He touched Ace's face. "I don't want you to have a panic attack. You know this kind of stuff causes them." Ace's face fell. Marco was just concerned for his health. But he hated not being informed on what was happening in the world. Plus, this had things to do with them. They ate devil fruits, all of this information was crucial for them to know. But Marco was right. It had been a long time since he'd had a panic attack, and stress caused that. After what happened to Sabo, it was not surprising he'd have panic attacks, but it had been many years.

After his best friend was murdered...

"I'm sorry. You know I don't like being uninformed, though," Ace said softly, putting his hand over Marco's.

"I know. But there's nothing we can do about what's going on outside of our lives," he pointed out. Ace knew he was right. "How about I tell you if something happens that is very bad for us?" Ace nodded, though he wasn't happy about it. He left the room, and headed to Luffy. If he had to be uninformed, he wanted to be distracted by something, and Luffy was a great distraction. He had no homework, so Luffy was the next best thing.

He was able to get Luffy to let him play his game with him. There were three controllers, as the original one hadn't been cool enough for Luffy. They played a first person shooter, Ace getting irritated that his little brother beat him so badly. He huffed, and Luffy laughed at him. "You gonna rage quit, Ace?"

The older man narrowed his eyes, but did not throw the controller. He'd done that with their wii once and had never lived it down. So they played, and Ace failed spectacularly, with Marco in the doorway laughing at him. Ace felt his face grow hot, and the rest of him, too. He was embarrassed, and his hot cheeks caught on fire, licking the sides of his face.

Next thing he knew, his face was covered in foam from the fire extinguisher. Luffy continued to laugh at him. Ace wiped the stuff off of his face and out of his eyes, scowling. Marco wasn't laughing, thankfully, and just gave him a reassuring expression. He knew how Ace felt about his powers. "Looks like I can never get embarrassed in public," he said in a grumpy voice.

Marco hit Luffy when he kept laughing, only his head bounced back, unharmed. Ace got up and left the room, wanting to go on a walk, even though he was afraid to be in public. But he didn't want to stay cooped up in the house. "I'm going on a walk," Ace said simply when Marco followed him. He was grateful Marco didn't try to convince him to not go out.

"Okay, be careful," Marco said, and kissed Ace's forehead. Ace smiled and thanked him. He asked for his phone, and assured Marco he wasn't going to look at the news. Marco trusted him, and gave him his phone. Ace thanked him and left, walking into the park they lived near. It had rained recently, so the air was nice and clear. He took a deep breath of it and walked down the street.

He noticed something about the houses closest to his. There were signs on the doors, with a devil fruit in a crossed out circle. Like Marco had said was on the pizza delivery guy's shirt. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away from it. He walked past a few people in the park, and overheard them.

"Do you think there are any growing here?" the man asked curiously. The woman he was with shoved his arm when Ace walked past. He blanched at knowing someone overheard him, but Ace didn't react, just kept walking. He put earbuds in and walked deeper into the park, before turning onto one of the trails, away from anyone else.

When he reached the creek, he sat down on a rock and had his knees to his chest. If it were a different world, he might be grateful for the devil fruit. Before now, he always thought it would be cool to have superpowers. Now he wasn't happy with it, he wanted it to go away.

Looking up at the canopy of leaves above, he wondered if it would ever be helpful for anything. Well, he'd survived the car crash because of it. So he was grateful for that. That piece of metal would have skewered him and he would have died. He was glad Marco's power was there as well, since none of the glass or shrapnel hurt him.

Ace wondered if Marco could fly as his bird form. So far, he was jealous of Marco's power. Though it had gotten them in that wreck. Well, there were a few good things, but also bad things, about eating the devil fruits.

Honestly, he didn't like that name. It made him feel like the world thought he was evil. He wasn't evil. At least he didn't think so. He worked hard to be kind. He didn't want to go back to being an asshole, when he was a mean big brother. When he made Luffy cry. That was a long time ago, but he still regretted it. He did his best to atone for that time.

But it was mostly after what happened to Sabo that he was a jerk. So he had a reason, even if that didn't excuse him. It explained why he was like that, but he still had no right to take his pain out on his brother. He shook his head and picked up a few rocks, starting to skip them across the creek.

He wasn't very good at it, and picked up a green rock that made him lose control of his body, falling down with no strength. He felt drained, more that he did when he was in the bathtub. He looked at the small stone, and managed to drop it, feeling infinitely better after that. He looked at the little rock, getting a bad feeling about it. But he pocketed it, wanting to show Luffy and Marco, see what they thought of it.

Ace stumbled and the water of the creek sloshed when there was an earthquake, birds fleeing the trees loudly. Ace wondered why that guy kept making earthquakes. Surely it brought attention to himself? You'd think he'd want to lay low. But it would be hard when the world knew your face and ability. Ace was glad no one knew. No one saw, since Marco and Ace were at the secluded table.

He hoped no one had seen Luffy eat his. But it was a miracle no one saw his sagging and bouncy body. Ace turned his music up higher and walked deeper into the forest. There were no more quakes. He drowned out his worries with music, eventually walking through the trees in a relaxed way. Maybe things would work out.

-x-

"Look what I found," Ace said, the little rock resting on a napkin on the bar counter in the kitchen. Marco looked at it and touched it only to pull it back. "Yeah, made me feel like that, too. Think it's only bad for devil fruit users?" Ace asked. It was after dinner, with all the curtains around the house closed and windows locked. With how bright Ace and Marco were, they would be easy to see through windows.

They didn't live especially close to anyone, but there was still a road that passed their home, and anyone could see from there if they drove past and looked at just the wrong moment. "I think I know what this is. Don't know how it ended up here, though," Marco said, hand on his chin.

"Do tell," Ace replied.

Luffy was holding it, and fell down to hit his head, and say, "Ow, fuck. Hey… wait! This thing made my powers go away!" Luffy said, sounding offended. Ah, how blissful it would be to be him. See he had a superpower and everything was fine and dandy. "Stupid rock," Luffy grumbled and kicked it into the wall.

Marco sighed. "Thanks, Luffy. Mess up the house."

Luffy said, "Ah, whatever. I'm gonna go in my room," and walked out of the living room.

Ace picked up the stone with a paper towel and set it back down on the counter. He asked Maro to continue his explanation, wary of the stone now that it caused Luffy's power to disappear. "It's called seastone since it's usually in the ocean. Until now, I don't think anything was special about it. It's not pretty, so I don't think there are many collectors of it."

He sounded conversational, but Ace could easily see the discomfort in his voice, how he had worry in his eyes. "You think people could use this as a weapon?" Ace asked quietly. Marco shrugged. Anything was possible, since the impossible was being proven wrong. People were getting superpowers.

After a while, the couple started the fireplace and sat on the carpet in front of it, Ace in Marco's lap. "You're really warm now," Marco commented, kissing Ace's ear. "We don't even need the fireplace when you're here."

"Technically we don't need the fireplace at all with the heater," Ace joked.

"Way to ruin the moment."

Ace grinned. "I didn't ruin it, I made it funny."

"Whatever you say," Marco humored, not angry at all, his voice fond and warm. Ace leaned further into his chest, his feet near the flames. It was true, he wasn't cold at all anymore, he didn't need the fireplace. But it felt nice, and like he said, most homes don't need a fireplace to keep warm.

Loud popping was heard from behind them, and they knew Luffy was making popcorn. Luffy had long since proven he didn't care about seeing them doing anything intimate, like kissing or cuddling. He didn't get uncomfortable at all, which was nice. It was nice Ace could be close with who he loved while not upsetting his only family member that he cared about.

"Only one bag, Lu," Ace called without looking behind him at the kitchen. "We're almost out and I don't want to go shopping right now."

You could hear the pout in Luffy's voice when he grudgingly agreed. After he left, the whole house shook again. They had honesty grown used to it in a short amount of time, and had already set things up so they wouldn't break from the tremors. "He needs to stop doing that," Ace said in a grumpy voice. "It's annoying."

Marco didn't say anything, and Ace looked up at him to see he was looking uncomfortable. "Tell me tomorrow," Ace said. "I don't want to ruin the rest of the night." He knew something had happened with Edward Newgate. He had his own suspicions, but didn't want to think about it. So, the rest of the night was full of cuddles and sweet words before they went to bed, completely warm with Ace under the covers.

-x-

"I'm not surprised," Ace replied when Marco told him why there were quakes and tremors more often now, after days of it only being small ones spaced far between. Marco had just told him people were attacking Newgate, and he was using his power to defend himself. Even if it hurt others around him. Like the rest of the world, the man couldn't control the power.

And self-proclaimed bounty hunters were after him, even though they were arrested on sight. The world kind of felt like it was falling apart, but it was lucky the world was under one government. It wouldn't falter. But, Newgate was pretty much on the run. Authorities wanted to stop him, as did most citizens. His power was dangerous and he had no control over it. Ace wanted him stopped as well. Earthquakes could be quite damaging and kill many people. They had lost count of how many people died in the quakes.

But while people couldn't keep count of those deaths, they were keeping count of devil fruits sightings or confirmations. As of now, there were over 130 confirmed devil fruits. And only a handful of them seemed to be similar to Ace's. Where their body had become some substance, like sand or even snow. Ace still hadn't been identified, and neither had the other two.

Ace was quick to adapt to this new world. He'd always adapted to new situations quickly. Though he didn't like it, he was no longer shocked when something happened. He and Marco both knew it would be messy, and get exponentially messier. But Marco still monitored the information Ace was getting, and he accepted this. He knew Marco was doing it for his mental health, not him wanting Ace to just not know what's going on.

"Looks like he's been spotted again," Ace said, unmuting the television. "Poor guy. He's just an old man."

"Not anymore," Marco pointed out. Ace had to agree. A normal old man couldn't do what he was doing. He was quite large and imposing regardless, destructive and unchecked power or not. The fight was live, the video being taken from behind a dumpster. They watched in apprehension and pity as Newgate seemed to be overwhelmed, until a huge crack split in the air, and the entire house shook, the roof caving in on them and slammed them into the ground.

Ace coughed in the debris of their house. "Luffy! Luffy!" Ace screamed, pulling himself out of the rubble. "Shit! Luffy!"

"I'm okay!" Luffy called, voice muffled, but he was alive.

"Damnit!"

"Holy shit…" Marco said and Ace turned around to see there was a mountain to the west that hadn't been there a few moments ago. Another one was made, and the ground cracked along the mountain, crumbling into rocks and red, thick liquid was coming from it. "Get up, now!" Marco shouted. Ace grabbed his phone and ran to Luffy, pulling him through the shambled walls and roof, as the three spritned outside and to the car.

The ground was cracked, but not bad enough for the truck to be unable to drive. Ace got in the front seat, and turned the car on, Luffy slamming the back door as he settled in. Ace didn't wait for them to be set belted before driving in the exact opposite direction as the newly formed volcano.

"Our house!" Luffy lamented.

"No one died. We can mourn the property later," Ace said, swerving around upended chunks of asphalt. "We're all alive. Are you hurt at all, Lu?" He was fine, and Marco was fine, but Luffy could be hurt.

"No. I'm fine," he said, breathless and turned around in his seat to see the destruction that was their flat and little town. "Are we gonna be okay?" Luffy asked, finally seeming to take this all seriously. Took long enough.

Marco said, "I have my wallet. It has the credit cards in it-"

"I mean the world. One guy ripped up the ground and made a volcano!" Luffy exclaimed. Marco fell silent, and neither he or Ace had an answer. Another crack was made, and it shook the road again. The car swerved and hit a mailbox, but the truck was luckily sturdy and strong. "See!"

Ace swallowed. "I… don't know. I guess we'll see." They were silent for a while, until they hit a roadblock of cars on the freeway. They couldn't get around it, since on the sides there were woods. They were dead locked in a traffic jam, but they had gone uphill a bit. The lava wouldn't reach them.

They had nowhere to go, and couldn't turn back. It took an hour for the cars to get a hold of themselves and drive in a slow line. Ace bit his lip hard to keep from crying. His lip turned into fire once his teeth should have broken the skin. Marco was looking at his phone while Ace focused on the driving. Luffy was sniffling in the backseat.

Ace's phone rang, and Marco picked it up for him. It was Gramps. "We're fine, we got out but the house is gone," Ace said before Garp could ask. His voice was steady, remarkably so, but still had a lance of fear in it.

"Good. Did the tsunami reach you?" Garp's voice.

"Tsunami?!" Luffy exclaimed from the backseat. But Ace answered, ignoring Luffy's shocked exclamation. "No tsunami, but a volcano now exists where there wasn't before. It was behind the house a bit. What's going on, Gramps?"

Grap grumbled on the other line. "Sons of a bitch cracked the world in half it seems!" Ace knew he was exaggerating. "It ripped up multiple fault lines and created some more! These things are dangerous. Anyone who has one needs to be locked up for life." It shoved a lance through Ace's heart, but none of the three replied.

"Did the world really crack in half, Grandpa?" Luffy asked from the backseat. "Or are you just going overboard?"

"There's a new mountain chain to the east of where Newgate was last sighted. Much of America is now in the Pacific ocean. The world may not have cracked in half but the damage is extreme. Japan is underwater now. Hundreds of millions are expected dead. Things won't go back to how they were before, boys."

Luffy was sniffling in the back seat still, but said nothing. "Gramps, what will happen to the devil fruit users?" Ace asked, voice strong and not showing the fear and worry that was physically obvious, as his knuckles turned white on the steering wheel.

"I'm not sure. It's not gonna be pretty. And now we have so-called bounty hunters going after those who ate devil fruits. Newgate may have fucked up the planet, but bounty hunters are not how the government deals with fugitives. My unit had already been called in for damage control, but most of the fleets have been sunk. We're pretty much trapped on land or in the air."

Marco had his face in his hands, taking deep breaths. "I'm scared," Luffy said from the back seat. The other three were silent, even Garp over the phone.

"Everyone is, Luffy," Garp finally said, in an uncharacteristically soft voice. "I am, too. The world has changed, and I don't think it will go back to how it was before."

"Is Newgate alive?" Marco asked, changing the subject.

"We're not sure. The area it happened is completely ravished. I don't see how he could be alive, but we're seeing a lot of impossible things lately," Garp mused. "I have to go now, boys. Stay safe, and keep away from any devil fruit users. You may not want to be affiliated with them." The line hung up, and Ace slammed his hands on the steering wheel.

"Fuck!" he screamed, and took a couple deep breaths. "I need to pull over," he announced, and got off of the road, since it was flat now and the forest was long behind them. He pulled over far from the freeway so no one could risk seeing them if Ace or Marco flamed up. When the truck stopped, Ace's forehead was resting on the steering wheel. Luffy was sobbing in the backseat.

Marco put his hand on Ace's shoulder, trying to comfort him. He hated hearing Luffy crying, but he understood and was pretty close to panicked tears as well. "Where do we go, now?" Ace asked quietly. "Our house is gone, everything is fucked up," he spat.

Marco said nothing for a bit. "We can try and go to Izo's. But he lives pretty far from here," he finally said. Izo was one of Marco's many brothers from an orphanage they grew up in. He lived in another state, but was still the closest family member Marco had. "I'll call him," the blonde said in a soft voice, and got out of the car, calling Izo.

It was a miracle phones still worked considering the beating the planet had gotten. Luffy had stopped crying, and was now on his phone, texting to see if his friends were alright. Ace didn't have any friends. It was the sad truth, but he had no friends. After what happened to Sabo, he didn't want friends anymore.

After he grew out of that mentality, he was so used to having no friends that it didn't bother him. He had Luffy and Marco, and felt that was enough. Marco got back into the car, and said, "Izo's welcomed us. His place wasn't too badly impacted by the quake."

"That's good," Ace sighed, and started the car again, getting back on the freeway and heading south to Izo's home. It was lucky that they or Izo didn't live by the coast, since Garp told them some of the coast is under water. He glared at nothing, angry with Newgate. He'd really fucked up.

But part of Ace felt pity for him. No doubt he didn't mean for this to happen, and now he was quite possibly the most hated man alive. The road wasn't too crowded once they turned down a less busy highway, towards a small city. Not a tiny town like where they'd previously lived, but not huge.

It took two hours of silence to get there. When they entered the city, Marco asked for them to stop by a Best Buy to get new phone chargers. Ace nodded, and drove to where Marco knew the store was. He was unsurprised to find some looters had been there. The glass doors were shattered. The same was with other stores in the shopping center.

Ace and Luffy stayed in the car while Marco went in and got iphone chargers. When he came back out, he looked a bit unsettled. "What's wrong?"

Marco sighed. "A store clerk was dead in there," he said quietly. "Let's just get to Izo's place." Luffy had gasped at the news, but said nothing. Ace nodded, and drove to Izo's home, and parked in the driveway beside Izo's car. Thatch's car was out in front, and Ace was glad Marco got to see his two closest brothers.

The three got out of the truck, Ace pocketing the keys, and went to the front door. Izo answered immediately, ushering them inside and hugging Marco and then Ace. "How are you?" he asked, leading them to the couches, where Luffy sat in the recliner and brought his knees up.

"My friends are okay, but our house is destroyed," Luffy answered when Marco and Ace didn't know where to start. "All of our stuff is gone, and some lava was coming towards us from the ground that guy ripped up."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Izo said sincerely. Thatch brought in freshly baked brownies. He had a sad smile on when he served them to the other guests, dusting powdered sugar across the treats. "Have you been keeping up with the news?"

Ace and Marco nodded, and shared a look. Should they share? But, they all needed someone to talk to. And they trusted his brothers. They loved Marco and cared about Ace and Luffy. They weren't Garp. They weren't insensitive. "Izo, Thatch, you would never hate me, right?" Marco asked nervously.

"What?! Why would you ask us that? Of course we could never hate you!" Izo said, obviously offended.

Marco smiled, and then explained about them eating devil fruits. Thatch's smile dropped off, but he wasn't angry at them, or showing any hate or disgust. Or worse, fear. Izo had a hand over his mouth at the news. "Oh, Marco. I'm so sorry," Izo said. After all, the world now hated devil fruit users or wanted them dead to steal their powers.

Luffy spoke up, saying, "Well they saved us in the car crash. Marco's car got totalled and we all lived." Ace nodded, telling them about the otherwise mortal wounds they'd gotten but were fine with.

"Well that is good," Izo sighed in relief. "You can stay here as long as you need, since your house is gone. Thatch was here when it happened, visiting."

Ace asked the other brother if his place was okay. "Yeah, it's fine. The quake didn't affect them too badly. Haven't heard from our other siblings, but it's to be expected. Everyone is busy, and we haven't talked to some in years. I just hope they're safe." Marco and Izo nodded in agreement.

The older brother noticed Luffy's face go white while looking at his phone. Ace didn't want to know what caused it, but he had to. "What is it?" Ace asked him.

Instead of answering, Luffy sent him a link to what he was looking at. When Ace opened it, his jaw dropped. It was a photo from a satellite of earth moments ago. It didn't look recognizable at all. So much of the world was underwater. Japan was gone, as was much of the coast of Europe. India was smaller than before and the pacific coast was decimated. California was gone. Alaska and Hawaii were destroyed as well. South America was badly damaged as well, but not as bad as North America and Asia. Things would never be how they were before.


	3. Madness

**Sixcupsofcoffeetogo: Thank you!**

**chickie434: It only gets worse, mwahaha.**

**Iris Viggiano: Thanks!**

* * *

The other three were looking at the photos as well. "Holy fuck," Thatch said in shock. "Thank god none of us lived on the coasts!" Marco and Izo were nodding as well. Ace was glad he had no one to worry about outside of those he lived with.

"What's gonna happen now? It's like it's the apocalypse," Luffy said quietly. No one had an answer, so the room stayed quiet. Ace's shoulders started to flame, and he leaned forward so it wasn't near the back of the couch. Thatch screamed, and Marco quickly got the fire extinguisher from the laundry room and sprayed him.

Luffy said, "Maybe we should try being able to control the powers." Marco and Ace both thought that was a good idea, and Ace rinsed off the foam before going outside to the backyard, which had a tall fence so no one else could see through.

Out of them, Ace had the least control and Luffy had the most. Though his power was pretty simple. And he wasn't disfigured on accident anymore. Ace was jealous. Marco's hadn't acted up in awhile either. So, they went outside and practiced. Marco forming his wings, like he had in the car on accident. Luffy just worked on stretching his body and letting it bounce back.

Ace was focusing on turning his on and off. Thatch was sitting on a chair near him with the fire extinguisher in case it went out of control. It was hard, but many hours later, Ace could turn off the flames if they came. Maybe he _could_ get control of it, and no one would ever know about it. Marco had transformed into the bird again, and Thatch pointed and laughed at him, Luffy joining in until they were both laughing at Marco's bird form.

Izo chuckled from behind his hand, and Ace smiled. It almost felt like the world wasn't ending. There were no more quakes that day, and Ace, Marco and Luffy slept in the living room on the couches. Thatch was in the guest bedroom, after all.

The next morning, Thatch cooked them all a feast, since he loved to cook and was a professional chef, had been to culinary school and everything. While they ate, Ace turned on the news, the national news, and they saw a breaking story with another devil fruit, less destructive than the still-missing Newgate's power, but still terrifying nonetheless.

A whole city was seen being sucked into what looked like a giant lake of blackness. When the black disappeared, the city was gone, before black was in the sky and everything that had been in the city collapsed to the ground in a heap. "Holy fuck," Thatch said loudly. Izo sighed, and muted the TV. Marco and Ace held hands at the table, and Luffy drummed his fingers nervously, bouncing in his seat. Whenever he was anxious, he couldn't sit still.

"We just have to hope no scary devil fruit users come here," Izo said.

"Per capita, there aren't many sightings," Marco pointed out. "We don't know how many hidden ones there are, but so far there's only been a few real scary ones. There is the earthquake one, that darkness one we just saw, some of the animal ones, like the velociraptor, and the bomb man. That one was the first one I heard about. Other than that, they've been laying low. But we all know there are more out there, like the twitter thread that has since been deleted."

Thatch replied, "Still, if there are fruits like that, who knows what else there is? There were also a couple of them like Ace's. Where their body is no longer tangible. Where they can be shot or stabbed and be just fine. And with Marco's power, a phoenix, who knows if other mythical creatures could appear?"

"I wonder if there will be a dragon," Luffy said absentmindedly, still bouncing in his seat. "Or maybe a Godzilla will appear."

Ace chuckled. The first time he'd laughed in what felt like a long time. "I doubt that there will be a Godzilla devil fruit, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a dragon one. I really hope no one finds out about us. Who knows what could happen?" The others all nodded in agreement. Ace was very glad Thatch and Izo didn't hate or fear them for their devil fruits. They even let Ace stay inside even though he was a fire hazard.

It was later that day that the government stepped up to the plate. An alert went out to all of their phones that shocked them. _All devil fruit users must report their abilities or face prosecution._ They were all stunned at this. But should they really be? People were using the powers for bad. Many of them intentionally. But what about the good ones, the harmless ones like Luffy and Marco? And what would happen with Ace?

"What do we do? Is it safe to do that?" Luffy asked worriedly. Ace replied that it was that or going to jail. The next alert told them there's a place online where you submit your information. The three fruit users thought long and hard. They decided to report Marco and Luffy and see what happened, so they could tell if it was safe for someone like Ace to submit.

They used Izo's laptop, them all miserable and wishing to time travel and go back to when devil fruits didn't exist. Where super powers were reserved for TV and comic books.

The website was government owned, and led them through many questions. For details about the power, person information, social security number, and a photo ID. Which none of them were comfortable with. But they had to to complete the registration. And they couldn't stop if they started. The stuff was submitted as it was typed, so there was no going back after beginning the process.

Since their home was destroyed, they were unable to enter their address. It wouldn't matter, since nothing and no one was there anymore. Ace missed home. He missed his old life. He missed his biggest worry being failing a class. College was over for a long time based on how things were going.

At the end of both of the submissions, they were to go to the nearest government facility to get a wristband. It worried the five of them greatly. Was this how things worked? But nothing like this had happened before. It was all uncharted territory. So, Ace drove Marco and Luffy to the nearest capital building. They were dispersed throughout all of the continents. It wasn't too far, and when they got there, it was mostly deserted.

Marco and Luffy easily got in and out, sporting a wrist band with a code on it. Luffy's was a light blue, and Marco's was a yellow. Luffy's had a 1 on it and a 2 on Marco's. Ace had to believe they were ranking how dangerous their abilities were. Would Ace's be a 2, or higher?

They looked online when they got back, and there were dozens of pictures taken of the wrist bands. It looked like there were three categories, not rankings. 1 was those that did not turn into animals, and were not made of a substance like fire or sand. So, that was Luffy. 2 was for those who turned into animals. And 3 was for those like Ace.

Soon there was a database online of registered abilities for the public to know. Those who had already committed crimes with their fruits, of course, did not appear. There were dozens of powers registered, and many seemed to be quite useless. So, when Luffy and Marco easily got their wristbands with no hassle and in respectful terms, Ace submitted his own information and got a wristband for himself.

It was tight, but not too tight. To be honest, it was good quality considering this had only started a week ago. It wasn't made of paper but plastic with a barcode on it and the obvious color. It was not to be taken off, and was waterproof. So, it wasn't too bad, even if the three were now wary to go out in public in anything but a long sleeved shirt.

When they were all back at Izo's, they found someone on the internet who had taken apart their wristband to see what had happened, and it wildly started beeping and shorting out. So, it wasn't only made of plastic. The video had a narrator talking about what kind of tech was in the wristband, since they were a technical engineer and could recognize what was in the band.

There was a tracker. And since he was streaming it live, everyone heard the banging on his door, which was then burst open loudly. Then the camera fell onto the ground, facing the ceiling but with the audio still going. It was hard to understand what was being said, but it was pretty obvious he was being arrested, and the phone camera was stomped on by a man in a SWAT uniform.

Whoever it had been filming, they hadn't been able to use their powers at all.

The three devil fruit users looked at their new wristbands after the video ended. "This was a mistake," Ace said quietly, the other two nodding. Luffy laid his head on the table, and Marco put his head in his hands. "Now they know where we are, who we are and what our power are."

Thatch and Izo were watching with worried and sympathetic expressions. Izo took Ace's hand, opening it since it was fisted tightly. "Things will work out once the world adapts to all the changes."

Ace didn't point out that he didn't know that. It felt good for someone to say something reassuring, even if it wasn't necessarily true. "Thanks, Izo," Ace said quietly. The house shook suddenly, but it was small and not too bad. Ace huffed.

Thatch said, "That probably wasn't Newgate's doing. The Earth got fucked up, fault lines were created. I think there will be problems having to do with that." It was a good point. And no one had seen Newgate since the earth shattering quake.

"So we'll have to deal with random earthquakes now?" Luffy asked. Thatch shrugged. Ace's phone buzzed, on vibrate. He turned it over to see it was Garp. Luffy asked, "Do you think he knows, now?"

Marco shook his head. "He's not high enough in the government to know that. I doubt they're putting out our personal information like that. We're just lucky they don't put our faces in the list of registered powers.

"So should I answer it?" Ace wondered, looking at his phone in confliction. "I don't want him to insult us again." Marco pointed out he'd just get angry and call again. Ace sighed and answered, turning it into a speakerphone. "Hey, Gramps."

"Where are you?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"We're staying at one of Marco's brothers' houses," he replied. "We're safe, don't worry." There was another small shake, and Izo got up and put extra velcro on the cupboards so they stuck closed better, and dishes wouldn't fall out and shatter. "Is there anything big going on? Did they find Newgate?" Garp stayed quiet for a bit, and Ace shared a confused glance with his brother. "Gramps?"

"Why didn't you tell me you ate devil fruits?"

Marco demanded to know how he knew that. "That is personal information! Why do you know that, you aren't a government official!" If the government was giving out personal information like that to someone in the military, then who else was knowing? Garp wasn't the highest ranking member of the military, he shouldn't have that information.

"The government has teamed up with the military. We're one now. Now, why didn't you tell me?" Garp replied harshly, and Ace started to sweat. The government and military were "one" now? Did that mean the military would be getting directly involved? Why? Were they not going for being peaceful anymore and would invoke violence? "Answer me!"

Ace and Luffy jumped, hating it when he got angry. "Because you were trash talking them. We didn't eat them on purpose," Ace replied smoothly, keeping his calm despite his inner panic. Luffy was opening and closing his fists in agitation and nerves.

"No matter if you ate them, I would still care about you, you brats!" Tears stung Ace's eyes, and he blinked them away quickly. "I want you three to not do anything that could bring attention to yourselves. I want you to stay away from busy areas, and don't show those powers. Ace especially."

"Why? What's gonna happen?" Marco questioned quickly.

Garp told them he couldn't go into detail, but to be careful around others. "And stay away from those wearing anti-devil fruit buttons. Those who wear those have often been these self-proclaimed bounty hunters. If you see one, walk the other direction. That's all I can tell you. And no, Newgate has not been found yet. I care about you two, fruit users or not."

Ace and Luffy were quiet for a moment before Luffy said, "Thanks, grandpa. We'll be super careful."

"Good. Call me if anything ever happens that I can help with," he replied. They all knew he could only help with something involving the military, so in case something involving the law impacted them, then they should call him. They agreed to do so, and the call was over. Ace sighed, and Marco grumbled that everything was a mess.

"Are we safe?" Luffy asked. "If the police and stuff know who we are, isn't that dangerous for us?" Thatch had stayed silent the whole time, eyes closed and face in a deep frown. It was of worry. Everyone could see they were in danger. But what were they supposed to do? They couldn't take off the wristbands now without getting arrested, or worse.

Ace shrugged. "We're probably not as safe as before. But, I'm not sure anymore. I didn't expect for the government to team up with the military like this. It seems excessive to do so when only a handful of terrorists are active," the freckled brother said. "It seems wrong."

Marco nodded in agreement. "I don't like that they're putting personal information out like that. I hope they aren't showing our information to everyone. It would be like putting a hit on us. A bounty. They just can't put our names and photos online for everyone to see." Ace nodded in agreement.

The rest of the night was solemn, and they didn't leave the house. Not even to go outside. Morale was low, especially for the three devil fruit users. Thatch gave Ace and Marco the bed kindly, so they could sleep together. They finally had some time to themselves.

"I love you, Ace. If we had to go through the apocalypse, I'm glad it's with you," Marco said, kissing Ace's cheek. Ace kissed his lips in response, pulling him close. Marco wrapped his arms around Ace, disconnecting the kiss to nuzzle his neck with his nose, then kissing it. If they were somewhere else other than Marco's brother's bed, they might have fooled around.

But they didn't, and fell asleep in one another's arms. When they woke up, it was to the blaring of the city siren for emergencies. Ace had only heard it in disaster movies, and it made his heart hammer in terror. But what would it be? Was a devil fruit user on a rampage? But it was just a siren. Izo was the only one to get an alert since he was subscribed to the news channel of his city.

Ace promptly had a panic attack, and Marco picked him up and carried him out of the bedroom. There was nowhere to put him that would be quiet, so he just practiced breathing with him as Izo locked every door and window, pushing a chair against the front door and closing every curtain, turning off the lights.

"What is it? What's the siren for?" Luffy asked in a hush as they were each trying to be quiet as Ace calmed down, having noise canceling headphones on that Thatch had brought out.

"There's a dragon in the closest town to here. Look," Izo whispered, and showed aerial footage of a huge, long, serpent-like dragon flying across the fields. "It hasn't injured anyone yet, but we all know fruit users aren't in control yet."

Luffy said, "He's huge!" Marco asked to see, and as he was watching, the dragon knocked the helicopter down and it exploded. "Should we try and leave?" Marco shook his head.

Ace was calmed down and the siren had turned off, and he took the headphones out, a bit embarrassed but knowing these people all knew him well enough and were understanding so he didn't feel ashamed. At least, not enough that he caught fire like last time. "If we drove away, we'd get trapped in traffic, and there's no way we could outrun something this huge," Marco explained, rubbing circles on Ace's back comfortingly.

They all moved under the kitchen table and nearby bar counter. Ace was so glad the siren had stopped. The world was ending. They had to hide from a dragon, while continents were damaged beyond any sort of repair. The government was warping. They wore wrist bands with trackers in them, and taking one off would get you at least arrested. It was like a bunch of different types of dystopias smashed together!

Ace curled up a ball, knees to his chin. He closed his eyes, trying to push the fear and worry down. Trying not to let it overwhelm him. He'd been keeping his calm mostly since everything started. He had moments of anger and panic, but over all he was calm.

But when he heard a scream from outside, his eyes snapped open and his shoulders and head caught on fire. Marco went to get the extinguisher, but the fire was gone once Ace got control over it. He looked up at the underside of the table, sure that it was going to be ruined. But there wasn't a single mark. He was confused.

Marco put the extinguisher down, and Ace told him to keep holding it. He moved to light his hand on fire and grasp the table leg. Izo shouted at him, angry at him doing this, until he pulled his hand back and there wasn't a single mark that would show it had been burned.

They were all silent, and Ace held the fire in his hand, looking at it. "I… I think it'll only light something else on fire if I want it to," he said. Luffy suddenly shot his hand forward and into the fire. Ace shouted at Luffy, and pulled his hand away immediately, hitting him on the head with his own fist before asking if he was alright.

Luffy showed him his perfectly fine hand. Ace grinned, feeling utter relief. He wouldn't burn his friends and family, he wouldn't accidentally light the house on fire. He was safe to be around! He closed his eyes, and felt true peace for the first time since he found out he had that power. Luffy hugged him, grinning as well. Ace ruffled his hair affectionately.

"You're so cool, Ace," Luffy said excitedly, acting like a child again. When he thought Ace was the coolest thing in the world. "A lot cooler than being rubber," he added, stretching his cheek out and snapping it back in place.

"I think Marco's would be the coolest if he learned to fly," Ace said, in a relatively good mood. The mood was slightly lifted until more screams were made outside, and the five of them resisted going out to see what it was. They waited quietly until there were gunshots and sirens. Luffy couldn't resist and ran to the window and looked out, between the curtains. Ace ran after him, meaning to pull him back to safety, until he saw what the problem was.

The dragon was not too far away. He - whoever the human using it was - was going the _opposite_ direction, and people on the street were shooting. Ace opened the window, unable to help himself, and yelled at them, "You're going to make him want to come this way!"

The man with the hunting rifle turned towards him, and actually looked repentant until he saw the hand gripping the window lock had a wristband on it. He pulled the gun up. "You're one of them?" Ace's face went white, and he pushed Luffy away from the window.

"Yes. Are you going to kill me? It'll still be murder, even if I've had the misfortune of eating a devil fruit," he said in a strong voice, despite the rising panic he was keeping away with all of his will power. The man lowered the gun slowly, and Ace thought everything would be fine. Well, not fine, but the guy wouldn't do anything drastic.

Izo was in the kitchen calling the police, though everyone knew they would be much too busy for this, even if someone was pointing a fully loaded gun at Ace. Marco pulled Ace away from the window when he saw the gun raised again, and let loose a couple shots, going straight through the screen and into Marco's head.

The others screamed in horror, but the blue flames disappeared and he was perfectly safe. Marco furiously threw the front door open and ran after the shooter, who realized guns wouldn't work on Marco.

Ace watched in shock and awe as Marco fluidly grew wings and flew after him, pinning him to the ground with his talons. He was a complete natural at it, and it looked _right._ His wings were beautiful. Izo and Thatch were watching in awe, too, until Ace acted and ran forward to take the gun away from him, melting it by lighting his hands on fire.

Other neighbors had been watching and hid the moment the gun was drawn. "Izo, are you on hold still for 911?"

"N-No. I'll call them again," he said in a slightly dumb voice, and called the police again, now that the dragon seemed to have gone away. Ace didn't understand why devil fruit users weren't laying low after everyone was out to get them. Some, for valid reason, but the more useless fruits wouldn't harm anyone on their own. Yet _those_ ones are the ones not in the news much.

Then he frowned, looked at the disfigured rifle in his hands. And at Marco's bird talons still pinning the man to the ground. Why were they suddenly acting like these powers were natural to them? Marco had flown without ever trying before, and Ace had easily gained control over his fire powers.

This definitely wasn't laying low. They were showing their powers to everyone on the block and many of them didn't look happy. Luckily, no one else had a gun or weapon, but still, Ace felt this was a bad idea. They weren't going to let this guy get away with attempting to murder them. What was interesting about Marco's power was that the wristband disappeared once his arm turned into wings.

That had him wondering. For the animal-fruit users, did their wristband stretch when their body changed? The dragon hadn't seemed restricted by a wrist band. And Marco's hadn't gone off once his arms morphed into wings. Ace was confused and wary. He dropped the mangled gun to the ground and walked to Luffy, pulling him closer. "Don't let anyone see your powers," he said quietly.

"Why not? You guys are!" he complained, and muted once Ace gave him a hard look.

"We are, and that could have been a huge mistake. You know people these days, Lu. We do it, too. We see something interesting or noteworthy and we take out our _phones,"_ he said quietly, and Luffy turned to see what Ace meant. Multiple phones were filming them.

"Oh. Okay, I won't use it," the youngest promised. Ace gave him a smile. "Grandpa is gonna be so angry." Ace nodded, knowing that was definitely the truth. He and Marco would no doubt be on the internet. Probably already were.

Eventually the police came, and Marco changed back to normal, looking like he only just now understood their situation once he was back to normal. The officer's partner, who wasn't doing the wrangling the man into the car, looked at Marco and then both of Ace and Luffy's wristbands with distaste. Like they were disgusting. Ace bristled at the look, but did nothing.

"Thank you, officers," Izo said politely.

"Sure. Just upholding the law in troubled times. Thank you for calling. We don't need any more threats to humans running around than there already are." He said it like a jab to the three devil fruit users. None of them reacted to it, just watched as the police drove away while Izo's neighbors watched in disapproval.

Marco sighed, and they all walked back inside. "I'm sorry, Izo. So sorry, I didn't even think before I used my powers." Izo put his hand to stop his brother's apologies.

"He shot you in the face, Marco. You weren't in the wrong by restraining him. I'm not angry," he said sincerely.

"But we basically doxed your house. I doubt anyone filming will blur your address," Ace replied. "Should we leave?" Izo shook his head, reminding him of what Garp had said. To not go outside. Or near busy areas. "But that was so we didn't bring attention to ourselves. Everyone knows now, Izo. Luffy is safe, but they no doubt saw his wristband when he was picking his nose."

"I don't pick my-"

"Then what are you doing right now?"

"..."

"Anyways, we're not safe. Which means you're not safe," Ace said, taking Izo's hand. "We don't want you to get hurt. But we don't have anywhere to go… Your neighbor is a fucker and I hope he goes to jail," Ace said, suddenly furious, truly realizing how royally they'd fucked up.

Thatch put his hand on Ace's head, being taller than him. "You guys are family. Where would you go? Besides, we have the three of you to save us if something happens, right?" he asked with a cheeky grin. Luffy laughed.

"We'll protect you! We're superheroes now!" he said proudly, and Ace sighed. But the tense moment had passed. "I bet that bullets wouldn't hurt me, so I'll guard you! I'm hungry," Luffy rambled. Ace smiled at his little brother fondly. He hoped nothing would take away that innocent smile. He wandered into the kitchen while Marco went to the couch. It was really lucky the bullets had gone through the window screen and not the glass. They could close it just fine.

It was early morning, and none of them could go back to sleep, so they put on a movie, all sitting in the living room, though Ace's mind was somewhere far away. He didn't like the glares he was getting by the other people on the street. But he wasn't very surprised. Devil fruit users had and were turning the world upside down. It was human nature to lump groups up together. Collectively, they were all hated for their powers, even those who were pretty harmless.

It was the new normal, and Ace would be ready at a moment's notice if someone got violent. But, his power was destructive. What could he do other than burn people? That was the only way he could fight if necessary.

It was halfway through breakfast when both Ace and Marco's phones started going off. Not Luffy's, only theirs. They had both been waiting for it. Ace had always thought about going viral, but not something like this. He thought it would have been pulling Luffy out of wet clement or something he did that was stupid and Ace had to clean it up.

Ace looked at his phone, and saw it was dozens of tags. They had been found both so easily. There was one message on Facebook that Luffy got as well. Ace opened the message and saw it was from someone with no profile picture or cover photo. There was no information on their page.

_Care to join your fellow devil fruit brothers and sisters?_

"Great. A cult spotted us. I thought this couldn't get _any more_ like a movie," Ace grumbled. Marco pinched the bridge of his nose. "Lu, don't respond to it, okay?" Luffy nodded. The three of them blocked the account that had messaged them.

A small tremor was made that shook the house, but again, nothing big. At any other time, a small quake like that would freak them out. But the world had been ripped apart and they survived that alright. A small quake was no big deal anymore.

"Hey, they finally put out an estimated death count from the earth quake," Thatch said in a sad voice. The others stopped eating and looked solemn, Marco asking what it was. "1.1 billion missing, 900 million confirmed deaths and countless injuries." Ace's jaw dropped, and he looked down in sadness. It should be no surprise. It was a massive natural disaster. Not only were there earthquakes, but the tsunamis and follow up quakes.

"What a world we live in, huh?" Izo asked quietly. "I'm just glad everyone is okay. All of our siblings have reached out last night and this morning. And you and Luffy don't have any other family, right?" Luffy shook his head. "That's good, you don't have anybody to worry over."

The door was banged on, and they jumped a bit. Marco huffed and walked to the front door, looking out the peephole. Ace kept Luffy from looking through the closed curtains of the kitchen window. "What do you want?" Marco asked through the door. The other four waited in nervous silence.

"I want to talk to the devil fruit users," a gruff voice said. He sounded cocky.

"We're not interested, please leave," Marco said, still looking out of the peehole, wearing a scowl. Ace bit his lip in worry and apprehension.

"C'mon, don't be like that. I just want to talk," the voice said again. Marco commanded them to leave now, or they'd call the cops. It was a weak line, but they didn't want to get tangled up with bad guys. They didn't need the law against them as well. They were already teetering on that in the first place. They didn't need more trouble. Marco suddenly told all of them to get away from the door as the doorknob was ripped off and the door was grabbed and yanked out of place.

The man Marco had spoken to had red, spiky hair and a scar over his eye. His hand had the doorknob, and the metal pole of Izo's mailbox in it. "All we wanted to do was talk. And now look, the normies' door is broken."

Ace furrowed his brows. "Well, we're here. What did you want to talk to us about?" Ace asked in a hard voice. He was behind Marco with Luffy behind him. Izo and Thatch were watching worriedly from further inside. Izo didn't seem overly angry his house was being messed with. Or he was just scared.

"My name is Kid. Why don't you join us? The three of you," Kid said. Ace noticed he didn't have a wristband on. He wasn't registered like they were.

He replied, "We're not interested. Besides, you don't have a wristband, we do. Anyone could track us. You don't want us with you." It was the smart thing to do. Decline with a reason that was good for _them._ Ace assumed it was some gang wanting them, and they would be a liability. Easy to find.

"Those normies couldn't do shit against you. I saw the video. There are already a bunch of us. C'mon, come with us," Kid said, clearly not backing down. "Besides, you could always just take them off."

Marco scowled and replied back in a harsh voice, "We wouldn't like to go to jail or worse. We're keeping them on."

Kid grinned. "You know what my power is? I can repel and attract metal. Guess what's in your wristband?" he asked in a sick voice. When Ace's wristband started to shake, Marco was on Kid in a second, pinning him down.

"Don't you fucking dare," he threatened. Kid just laughed, not concerned at all.

"C'mon, don't be lame. What god would want to lower themselves to normies?" he taunted.

"God? You think we're gods? We ate polluted fruit!" Ace argued. No one as around outside this time, all hiding from Kid most likely. There was no one else with him, but he spoke like he was with others. Most likely other devil fruit users.

"The _real_ god is old Newgate. He brought about this change in the world that will never go back to how it was. He was the catalyst. We're just taking advantage of our new powers and place in the universe."

Luffy frowned deeply. "Lots of people died because of that."

"So? Most of them are the normies. Forget about them. You guys aren't part of that crowd anymore, anyways," Kid said, not at all concerned with Marco's talon at his neck. "Join us," the red head said, and flicked his finger, ripping Ace's wristband right off. Marco ripped his left arm off with his huge, clawed foot. Kid screamed in pain and Ace's wristband started going off wildly, beeping like mad.

Kid continued to scream as his arm bled out, and Ace started to panic. Luffy ran inside and got his phone. "What do we do? I'm gonna get arrested!" Ace shouted in panic. He hurried forward and picked up the red wristband. "I didn't do it, he pulled it off!"

"Ace, baby, I know. Ace! The best thing to do is to be upfront and honest. Tell the officers that he ripped it off. He'll be in more trouble for not registering than you are for having someone else pull off your wristband," Marco soothed. Luffy ran out, on the phone with Garp. Ace pulled it to his ear.

"Gramps, am I gonna get arrested?! I didn't do anything wrong!" Ace was thoroughly freaking out, shaking in fear. He couldn't hear Garp's reassuring words, or his friends and family trying to calm him down. Sirens were heard in the background, and Marco took the phone away and kissed Ace. Ace stopped shouting and grew quiet, but didn't respond to the kiss.

"There. Calm enough to talk now?" Marco asked kindly, touching Ace's cheek. Ace swallowed and nodded, Marco giving the phone back.

"Ace, if you cooperate, there should be no problem. I'm angry that you three already got exposed, but there's nothing to do about it. Keep calm, alright?" Garp asked, sounding unusually nice. Luffy was worrying behind them, near Thatch and Izo.

It wasn't unexpected when police showed up, and Ace told them the story, calmly. "He could control metal and ripped my wristband off. I didn't take it off on purpose," Ace insisted. Kid was being treated for his arm while also being restrained. The officer seemed to be reasonable, and it calmed Ace down.

"You seemed shaken up. How about we take this man in and I'll come back with a new wristband?" the man asked, and Ace smiled at his kindness, happy to see something like that in such a messy world full of bad individuals.

"You're traitors to your own kind!" Kid raged, but his remaining hand was restrained so he couldn't use his powers to do anything with it. Ace snapped back that _he_ was the one that bothered _them._ Besides, they were all people. They were all humans, no matter what some anti-devil fruit users thought.

Kid was taken away, and Ace couldn't help but think they did something right while also wrong. Kid had friends, he wanted to take the three of them, and now he was in jail. The officer did come back a while later with a new wristband. Ace cooperated, and the bracelet was put back on.

For the second time in two days, videos of Ace and Marco were introduced across the internet. And different groups seemed to have interpreted it in different ways. The devil fruit supporters detested Ace and Marco's actions, while peaceful groups who wanted nothing to change much showed that devil fruit users could still be civil and follow the law.

They were both the villains and the good guys. Ace didn't know what to feel anymore. Worry, but also relief. Though he didn't know who they should be more worried about. The government or other rogue devil fruit users? Luckily, Luffy was not in the videos of corresponding internet articles. Both Ace and Marco politely declined to comment on news sites.


	4. A Turn For the Worst

**chickie434: Things won't be working out for awhile, lol. It only gets darker, Mwahaha!**

**Sixcupsofcoffeetogo: Thank you! I'm excited to post the last chapter. It won't take much longer to get there.**

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**This chapter is when shit hits the fan. Enjoy~**

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Two days later, Ace couldn't be inside anymore. So, he and Marco went out on a walk while Luffy went with Izo and Thatch. They all had to get out of the house. Ace didn't want to be seen publicly with Luffy so he wouldn't bring attention to his brother too much. The attention was negative, and Ace didn't want Luffy having to deal with spam messaging or tagging.

And the world was already stressful enough without needing something directly related to you. Ace already was dealing with that. He had to private all of his social media accounts due to the negative attention. All attention was negative, whether it was kind of cruel. He didn't want any, so they were both unwanted.

Ace and Marco were holding hands, walking through the nearest park. It wasn't like their home park, which was apparently destroyed, but was flat and mostly for dogs and kids to run around in. It was boring and not much fun. And with more people there, more noticed their wrists, and both Ace and Marco watched the reactions closely.

The thing they noticed the most frequently was that children seemed to be more open to devil fruits than adults. Many families needed to alert their children that they couldn't just run up to them both. Out of fear, probably, but also decent behavior. Only one child ran up to them, and asked if they were superheroes.

"In our own way, I guess. We're no different than regular people, we just have some cool new tricks," Marco said kindly to the little boy. The adults watching discretely had their faces soften just slightly, and they were no longer telling their kids to stay away, not make eye contact.

"Let's see the powers!" a little boy in a stroller shouted. Neither man did so, thinking it wasn't appropriate or safe to just flaunt them in public. Especially since they were so polarized right now. When they both shook their heads, the boy started crying. No one insisted, to Ace's relief. He was glad Marco was there to do the talking. He thought faster, was smarter. It was nice being with him, and finally being _alone._

But, they were neve truly alone anymore. Stuck with Luffy or Marco's family. There was no privacy. "When everything is back to normal, I'm gonna jump you. Be prepared," Marco said seriously on their way back to Izo's. Ace blushed and laughed, hugging his lovers' arm. Ace didn't know when things would be back to normal. Never the old normal, but hopefully something would happen soon to calm the world down.

It had been less than a week since the "world changing quake", which was the new name of the massive earthquake Newgate had let loose, and Ace and his family were finally feeling the affects of the supply chain around the world. When Izo went shopping, a lot of produce wasn't there. Emergency items were long gone, no medications or first aid equipment. The pharmacy had already been looted in the immediate aftermath, so when Ace and Marco walked past it, they were pleased to see that it was back and running.

The broken windows of Best Buy had been replaced. The world was trying to hobble along with a false sense of normalcy when all of that was actually gone, and most didn't want to admit that. And while Ace and his family wanted to focus on the normal things still going, there was no going around the devastation of the billions of people dead or missing.

They tuned that out. Unable to face everything, they shut out the death toll. They could do nothing about it, and they didn't want to think of just how many people had died and lives ruined. How many had lost loved ones. It was tragic.

When they got back to their current home, they saw Thatch repainting the front door, which had been replaced and revamped. It would be much harder to break down now, with metal in it and not just wood. There were also multiple, thick and secure locks. Just in case.

Izo had also paid for thicker windows. And not just for safety, many homes were having their windows replaced. After all, earthquakes would now be a constant, so it was best to have windows that could withstand it. Izo's windows had already been above average quality, but now they were thicker and the locks more secure. He was so gracious about them being there, even though they'd caused them so much stress. Thatch had no family, and had decided to stay with Izo for the time being. Being alone in these times was good for no one. And once the three fruit users left, whenever that was, he'd be alone again.

"Looks good, Thatch," Ace said in a bright voice. Thatch looked up and grinned.

"You guys sure look happy," he commented before going back to painting. "Did you have a nice walk?" he asked.

Ace nodded, and said, "Acting like normal was nice. We didn't get in any trouble, so that was a relief."

Thatch said that was good. "Your brother has taken over the living room," he said casually, and Ace groaned. He went inside while Marco offered to help Thatch, and Ace found his brother sprawled across the couch, his new Nintendo Switch on and with snacks and blankets all over the floor. They hadn't bought a big game system, and instead went for portable, since they weren't going to stay at Izo's forever. Plus, they might need to leave there. Best to have one you didn't need to set up every time to use.

"Luffy, you can't just make a mess like this. We aren't at home or in your room," Ace said in irritation as he picked up all of the food wrappers. Luffy glanced at him with a pout before going back to his Switch. He was in a bad mood.

"You know I'm an adult, too, right? I'm not a kid you need to shelter from the world. The world hates us… I want to be included with you guys," he said suddenly, putting his game down on his chest. Ace turned around and asked what he meant. "I don't have any of my friends, or family, just you. And I feel like you and Marco were embracing things while I'm just shoved aside. I know you're trying to do it out of care, but I'd rather it be tough and be included. I don't know any other devil fruit users that are friendly. It's lonely," Luffy explained quietly.

Ace's face fell. He didn't realize it bothered Luffy so much. "I'm sorry, Lu. I didn't know that's how you feel. I don't like the attention, so I don't want you to have unwanted attention either," he said softly.

"I've already gotten enough attention for it to have ruined things. Zoro's dad and Sanji's mom forbade them from talking with me again. Usopp got scared and hasn't replied, Nami got punched by her cousin for still being my friend. Everything's ruined, and I at least don't want to be alone like this," he said, his voice wobbly. Ace was in shock and walked to the couch, crouching beside it.

"Luffy, why didn't you tell me this? I asked you and you told me things were fine, that you weren't talking because they were busy," Ace said softly, sadly.

Luffy sniffled, and said, "You're already so stressed. I didn't want you to be upset about me, too." Ace touched his cheek, wiping a tear away. "I want things to go to how they were before," he whimpered.

Ace replied, "Don't hide your troubles to make me feel better. I know… I know that I've done that to you, and I'm sorry, but don't put aside your troubles. I want you to talk to me about these things. Things… won't go back to how they were before, Luffy. The world is different now, and not just because of the devil fruits. By itself alone, an earthquake like that one that disrupted and destroyed much of the world would be life changing for everyone."

Luffy sniffled, and wiped his eyes as he tried to hide his cries. Ace hugged him tightly. He wanted things to go back to normal, too, but he knew it wouldn't. The economic impact would be massive, and the change in daily life would be drastic. The only good thing in all of this was that the world was ruled by one government over all. Under that blanket, there were no wars between continents.

"We'll find a new normal some day, Lu," Ace said simply, combing his fingers through Luffy's hair. "Maybe not soon, but some day."

"You don't know that," Luffy replied, though he was no longer crying. Ace said nothing, knowing Luffy was right. But things would even out eventually. After every major epidemic or natural disaster, things evened out eventually. This situation would, too, just not anytime soon.

They both heard the sound of a gun going off from outside and jumped up to run to the door. Marco's shoulder was in blue flame. Someone shot him. "Get away from the normie, freak!" the man holding a shaking gun said. Thatch seemed shocked, not understanding the situation. Why was someone without a devil fruit using the word normie? That had become an offensive term for non-devil fruit users by those who had eaten one.

"Oi, he's not doing anything wrong to me, this isn't necessary," Thatch said, palms up and trying to calm the situation. He adjusted his aim and pointed it towards Thatch, demanding to know if he was with the "freak". "I mean, yeah. But there's no problem, why don't you calm down?" Thatch reasoned, though he was feeling nervous.

"Then you're a part of the plague as well!" and he shot. But Luffy was already there, taking advantage of Ace's shock. After all, the bullet would go right through Ace or Marco and still hit Thatch. The neighbors were screaming and the bullet went through Luffy, stretching his skin until it bounced back, rochoceting it into the offender's foot.

"Luffy!" Ace shouted and ran forward. Luffy had a hole in his shirt, but his skin was fine when he pulled the fabric up. Marco frowned deeply, and told Ace to pack his things. He had to agree. They were putting Izo and Thatch in danger by being there. Already, with the original shooter, Kid, and now this.

Luffy was understanding as well, though he was sad. They all packed their things, the little they had, like changes of clothes and toiletries. Izo was asking what they were doing frantically. "We're leaving for your own safety," Marco said solemnly. Thatch was very shaken up, and had called the police on the shooter, who was still crying out over his foot. Ace had taken the gun and melted it after taking the bullets out of it.

"But where will you go?!" Izo demanded.

Thatch was there, and put his house key in Marco's hand. "I'm not living there at the moment. It should be fine for you guys to live. Just, be safe," Thatch said sincerely. Marco smiled and hugged him, thanking him. Luffy had his backpack packed, with the new clothes, and his game console and two games.

Ace got into the car, being the driver again, while Marco and Luffy got in the backseat and passenger's seat. Ace was sad to leave Izo and Thatch, but it was for their own good. The three didn't want them to die because of them. Izo was visibly upset, teary eyed as Ace backed out of the driveway before heading to the nearest gas station.

The gas price had skyrocketed, so they spent a lot of money on it, but were soon on the road. They left the radio off, and instead made small talk. Very small talk, nothing meaningful. Luffy was in a funk in the backseat, and Ace felt bad for uprooting him so much. But, Luffy was not a kid. Ace couldn't feel sorry for him forever. He was an adult, part of the adult world now.

What should have been a few hours took half a day. Since the earthquake had affected everywhere, there was an abundant amount of closed roads and detours. They found one road that seemed pretty unbroken, until it ended in a huge rift, with water flowing in between both sides. It took them another hour to turn around from that road and go back the way they came.

Cars were abandoned everywhere, wrecked surroundings, broken ground, trees snapped in half, houses in shambles. It was a horrible drive, much worse than the drive from their home to Izo's.

They switched drivers halfway through, Ace taking a nap while the other two were silent. Luffy was playing his game while they were on the drive. When they finally reached Thatch's city, they found it was in worse shape than Izo's had been. So many places seemed to have been looted, but they didn't stop to stare and drove straight to Thatch's home. It was a small one-story home, cozy, but still small. Two bedrooms and two bathrooms, like Izo's, only a lot smaller. The only real very nice thing about the house was the kitchen, it was bigger than the living room by far, with top of the line appliances and cooking ware.

Luffy went into the guest room and flopped down, falling asleep immediately. Ace and Marco made sure everything was okay and made sure all of the doors and windows were locked before they both hit the sack, too. They were hungry, and thankful that Thatch's pantry had been fully stocked when he left. The power hadn't gone out here, or it had and was turned back on, for the goods in the fridge and freezer were still edible and safe.

When they got up, it was to eat. They ate all of the leftovers Thatch had in his fridge, which were dated so they knew when they went bad. It was quiet, and Ace already missed Thatch and Izo, but it was for their own safety. He looked down at his wristband with sadness, before he told the other two he was going to call and update Gramps on their location.

The line didn't pick up, so Ace left a message for him to call back. Ace was surprised they hadn't gotten a call based on just how much publicity they'd gotten. He must be really busy, and it made sense, since devil fruit users continued to pop up and threaten "normies" and other devil fruit users.

They were all still tired, emotionally drained and sore from sitting for so long, so Luffy went back to bed, and Marco and Ace went to the master bedroom. Ace was going to change when Marco attacked him. Like he'd promised Ace, he jumped him, and the two had some fun. It wasn't how it usually was, lighthearted and joking. More of a reassurance that they were together and fine and would continue to go through this mess together.

-x-

Three days later, after relatively calm days, no trouble to them from anyone else, things took another negative turn. The three of them were on the couch playing cards when all of their wristbands started going haywire, beeping loudly. They hadn't even touched them, hadn't tried taking them off.

And while Marco and Luffy's just continued to beep, Ace's made a hissing noise, and Ace prompt passed out, Marco attempting to pull it off while plugging his nose. Luffy passed out second, while Marco remained immune, and unaffected by the gas.

He finally ripped the wristband off and threw Ace and Luffy over his shoulders and ran into the garage, throwing them into the truck not too gently and starting the car, opening the garage door only to be met by two police cruisers. But these guys were in full gear, and Ace woke up when he was fifty feet in the air, and started screaming.

Marco was in full bird form, holding on to Ace and Luffy in each of his large talons. "Marco! Marco what happened?!" Ace screeched, looking down in fear. Marco said nothing, unable to speak in that form. So he changed into the halfway form, still able to hold onto his boyfriend and his little brother while still talking.

"Something happened, and out wristbands started freaking out. Sleeping gas came out of yours and knocked you and Luffy out. I tried driving away, but the cop cars were already there. Which is how we got here. I don't know where we're going. Our phones are gone," he explained. Ace knew why, they could be tracked. Now they had no source of information and no way to contact anyone. Sure, they knew phone numbers and could use a payphone, but they wouldn't.

Luffy was silent, and Ace looked over to see him with the saddest look on. He just looked so _tired._ It worried Ace, but he said nothing of it. "Do you have your wallet?" Ace asked loudly, since the wind made it hard to hear one another.

"I have a lot of cash, but I wouldn't feel safe using the credit cards. No doubt the government would be able to trace where it was used." They shouldn't have registered. But they would have ended up like Kid if they were caught, arrested. But they hadn't done anything and were going to be arrested anyways. It wouldn't have mattered that they cooperated. If they let loose sleeping gas so the three wouldn't trouble them, then their rights wouldn't have mattered.

"We're lucky the things went off as a warning," Luffy said in a bored voice. "And that Marco didn't fall asleep either." Ace nodded in agreement, and Marco changed back into his full bird form. No more talking then. Ace reached over and took Luffy's hand. It was uncomfortable, how they were positioned, but there was nothing they could do about it. They were just lucky this worked. That Marco was big and strong enough to be able to carry them away.

Luffy held Ace's hand, but it was loose and he looked like he was somewhere else. Ace was truly worried. His friends abandoned him, even if it wasn't by choice. They had nowhere to stay, and were hated by everyone. Things were just getting worse and worse, and Ace had Marco. Luffy only had Ace, and he needed a friend, someone else to help carry the weight.

He had no other friends with a devil fruit, so he was all alone. Even with Ace there, Luffy was alone. And Ace wouldn't exclude him anymore, even if it brought trouble for him as well. He was one of them, they were all in the same boat, and so they would include Luffy.


	5. Edward Newgate

When it started to get dark, they landed in a forested area. The landscape was a mess, and they were completely lost now. Hills and mountains were confusing them and they could see the ocean way too quickly. They were nearing the edge of one of the plate shifts. So they stopped in a place no cars could get to them.

Marco dove and then found a grassy spot and set Luffy and Ace down, and Ace was stiff and sore, and did some stretching. Luffy was made of rubber, so he wasn't stiff. Marco sat on the grass and fell asleep, exhausted. Ace kissed his forehead and thanked him.

"Where do we go now?" Luffy wondered, looking around the forest area. Ace shrugged, and asked Luffy to help him put Marco on his back. He piggy backed him as he walked with Luffy through the woods.

They wandered around for a long time before they came across a large cave. It was new, clearly, and Ace and Luffy decided it would be a safe spot to stay. Ace laid Marco inside as he slept. "I guess we can pretend we're camping," Ace said casually, and sat down. "And I can cook food for us, too." Luffy scoffed and laid down on his side. Ace assumed he'd be taking first watch.

There was no town or city near them, but there was a broken highway. The ground was in shambles, but Marco could fly. Though Ace had to wonder if there were others like them, fugitives hiding in the woods. Though there weren't that many devil fruit users per capita, so it would be unlikely that they encountered another.

Ace did fall asleep. Marco shook him awake halfway through the night. "Huh?" he asked. Marco put a finger in front of his mouth. Luffy was awake, too, mouth clamped shut. Ace became worried. "What?" he whispered.

Marco ushered him along, out of the cave until they all heard, "You can stay if you have nowhere to go." It was an older voice, and Marco flinched. Ace turned, wondering what had spooked Marco so much, and turned around to see an older man, large, with a half-moon mustache. Edward Newgate.

Ace glared at him, thinking of it being his fault the world was in a crisis, that billions were affected and dead from his earthquakes. They'd lost everything to his power. "Thought you were dead," Ace said in a cold voice.

"Then I'm doing a good job of hiding, aren't I?" he asked, voice flat and weary. He looked a mess, but wasn't dead and didn't seem to be starving. "If you have nowhere to go, the mountain is safest. There are coyotes and bears that roam in the night."

Marco stared at him long and hard. He was uphill to them, in the mouth of the cave while they were out on the grass below it. "Why?" Marco asked simply.

"It's lonesome, being a hated fugitive. Some company might make things a bit easier. I have nothing to lose," he said, sounding so weary, and Luffy was watching him with sad, sympathetic eyes. Ace was still feeling anger at what he'd done. "It wasn't my intention to destroy the world. It was an accident. I won't kill you in your sleep, you have my word."

The three young men stared glances. They had nowhere to go, and Newgate's power couldn't hurt them without hurting himself. "We'll stay," Luffy decided for them. He walked back up the hill and into the cave, right past Newgate. Ace followed after, Marco coming up at the back. Ace looked at Newgate from the corner of his eye, and suddenly felt very sympathetic. He had the eyes of a haunted man.

He'd killed _so many_ millions and hadn't meant to. "Are there anymore bounty hunters around? Or did they give up?" Ace asked, warily, but still conversationally. Newgate smiled, probably glad to have someone to talk to.

"Based on what you had said, everyone thinks I'm dead. But I assume there are still those looking. Are you three devil fruit user as well?" he asked curiously. Ace nodded, and Marco pulled him closer. Luffy laid at the back of the cave, and there was a campfire in the middle of it. It was out, so it was pitch black until Ace lit up, illuminating the cave. "That's a much more useful power than destroying the planet," he said casually. Ace nodded, agreeing.

The four of them sat in silence, awkward silence, until a heavy sigh was made. "I'm sorry for what my actions have done to you. I don't know the extent of the damage I've done, but I know enough to understand it's disrupted everyone's life."

Luffy spoke, "It's okay. You didn't mean to." Ace almost smiled. It sounded like Luffy, but much too mature for him. His voice wasn't innocent or full of cheer.

"You're a kind brat. I can't atone for the damage, I can't fix it. All I can do now is survive and make sure I don't let my power get in the hands of someone who would wish to do more intentionally," he said. "Tell me what happened to the rest of the world. I haven't been around anyone else since it happened. I've been hiding anywhere I can."

Ace wasn't sure whether he should tell him, since he looked so repentant already, eyes sad and tired, mouth downturned. He looked like he'd be an incredibly strong man, but was emotionally broken by the weight of his actions, unintentional or not.

But Marco answered honestly. "The continents are wrecked. Japan is gone, the pacific ocean has rosen to engulf much of Asia and the West Coast. New mountain chains are throughout the world. Volcanoes have been born. Billions missing or dead," he said a dry voice.

Newgate put his face in his hand, and sighed heavily. "I see."

Luffy said, "It was an accident," again. And while it was a nice thing to say, and the truth, it seemed, it didn't take away what had happened. Newgate smiled at Luffy fondly, and asked what their names were. "I'm Luffy, Ace is my brother and Marco is his boyfriend."

"I see. It's nice to meet you all. How did you end up here? There are no towns or settlements near," he said, sounding actually happy, to talk to people again. Ace knew he must have been very lonely. Luffy told him their story, and when he was told about some of the devil fruit users' opinions of him, he scowled. "I did not do this on purpose. I didn't destroy the world to change it. That infuriates me."

The three young men raised their brows with how angry he sounded. "Well, you'll probably never meet them. Last I knew, we were being prosecuted for being fruit users." And Marco explained again that all three of their wristbands went off even when Luffy hadn't shown any of his powers or even spoken to police. "Though some could be on the run now, like us."

"Yeah, but they would probably not be able to fly anywhere," Ace said. "We only got away because you could fly. You saved us, from whatever was going to happen. You were the only one not knocked out by the gas."

Marco sighed. "I wish I could have done more. And I wish we had some way to know what's going on," he lamented.

Luffy tried to make him feel better by saying, "Well, we don't have wristbands anymore. No one would recognize us as devil fruit users on the spot and we can go into town or something to see what's happening." Ace pointed out that he and Marco had been all over the news and internet. "Well, I can go by myself," Luffy responded.

"Luffy, you can barely go shopping at the grocery store alone," Marco said in disbelief. Ace chuckled and Luffy huffed. Newgate was smiling at them lightly, like they were amusing. "But you are the only one who could go without being easily recognized, you're right. Still, Ace won't let you go alone." Ace nodded his head in agreement. He would never allow Luffy to go anywhere in the world alone right now.

"But I want to know what changed! We should know, right?" Luffy insisted. Ace agreed, something had changed to suddenly make the cops come after them and release sleeping gas out of Ace's band. Something sudden and drastic, since they hadn't even gotten a call from Garp. "Maybe we should call grandpa," he suggested.

Ace shared a look with Marco. "Do you think it's worth the risk? His phone would be easy to track to whatever one we are using," Ace said. Marco looked troubled.

"We already ran. I resisted arrest, didn't I? I flew away," the phoenix fruit user replied uncertainly.

"For tonight, why don't you all go back to sleep? You woke up when you noticed me," Newagte said, breaking into their conversation. He was smiling at them, and Ace thought it looked like quite the warm smile. Marco said that that was a good idea. It had been a long day. Especially for him.

They didn't have anything to eat, but fell asleep just fine. They didn't mistrust Newgate, or think he'd kill them with his ability. The three of them fell asleep sleeping together. Ace was in Marco's arms while Luffy had his leg thrown over Ace's.

They woke up the next morning to find Newgate wasn't there. "I wonder where he went," Luffy said curiously. Ace shrugged. "I'm hungry, we should go look for food. Marco's a bird now, he could hunt animals." Ace chuckled, but it was a good point. Ace and Luffy weren't good at hunting, and they had no real good weapons to do so. Luffy was made of rubber, and had no attacks.

Marco had huge talons and a sharp beak. Ace looked at him, and before he asked, Marco said, "I'll go look for something." Ace smiled and Luffyw wished him good luck.

While they waited for Marco to come back, Ace sat on the grass with Luffy. "Lu, I'm sorry I wasn't a better brother. That we ended up like this," Ace said sadly, surprising Luffy.

"What are you talking about? You didn't make me eat a devil fruit, I did! And you ate yours on accident!" Luffy exclaimed. Ace knew he was right, but still felt bad for it. Still felt like it was his fault they were in this situation. He couldn't help it, Luffy was living with him. If he'd been with Gramps, then maybe he would have been fine. "I'd rather be here, with you, than taking orders from grandpa at some camp! Plus, that place would have been destroyed! It was on a coast, and I would be dead."

Ace still looked ashamed. "Don't close on me, let me help you. It's life and death now. It's all in or all out, and we're together. I'm an adult too, stop treating me like the little brother. The world is different now." The freckled brother was surprised by how wise Luffy was sounding. And he couldn't help it. To him, Luffy would always be the baby brother.

"Then, why don't we help you use your powers and I'll be more comfortable with you on the front lines with me. If it comes to that, which I have a feeling it will," Ace said honestly. Luffy smiled and nodded.

The two of them got to work, trying to use Luffy's power. And while he was able to function normally, he wasn't able to use it fluidly for anything else like Ace and Marco could. While they were training, Marco flew back, landing with a dear deer in his talons. He changed back, and panted.

"Wow, Marco! Cool!" Luffy exclaimed. Marco grumbled for Ace to cook it and then let them eat.

"I saw Newgate on the other side of the mountain. There's a stream down there, no doubt where he gets his fresh water-"

They all ducked and grew silent when the sound of a copter from overhead sounded. The three ran from the clearing and back into the cave. They were silent, waiting for anything to change. Ace's heart was beating painfully rapidly. Marco took his hand, trying to calm him down. Luffy was shaking as well, and then the sounds came back.

" _Devil fruit users, we know you're here! Come out quietly and we won't hurt you!"_ a voice called, from an amplifier. They had no doubt been able to track Marco from satellite or sightings of a flying, blue fireball holding two people.

Of course, none of the three left the cage, and it seemed Newgate hadn't been noticed. "What do we do?" Ace wondered, gripping Marco and Luffy's hands tightly. Marco shrugged and Luffy shook his head.

"I wish they could tell us what they'd do if we do go with them," Marco said quietly. Though the chopper was far from them, they couldn't hear him speak from inside the cage. The aircraft hadn't landed yet. Hopefully they'd move on.

" _You have nowhere to run, we know you're here,"_ the voice said. Luffy stuck his tongue out at whoever was speaking and crossed his arms.

"Well, we're not going with them," Luffy said in irritation. "They're acting like we're terrible criminals. We didn't do anything wrong, they came after us. What, are they gonna lock us up for eating the fruit but not hurting anyone?"

Ace wondered if they could negotiate. "No way, if we could negotiate then they wouldn't have used the gas on us in the first place. They want us to surrender without resistance," Marco replied. "And I don't think they have anything pretty for us when they finally get us in custody." Ace was worrying about Newgate getting spotted, he didn't want the man to get killed or use his ower and fuck up the planet again. Maybe make it even worse, now.

"We need to decide what we're going to do if they do get us. Do we fight back, or surrender?" Marco asked seriously. "We don't know what's happening, or what's waiting for us if we surrender. I… I won't go to prison." Luffy raised his brows and Ace furrowed his.

Ace replied, "They wouldn't just throw us in jail, we did nothing wrong!" There was no way they'd end up in jail for something like that, they didn't hurt anyone or anything. Yeah, they ran, but if they surrendered peacefully, then they would be just fine. Gramps would bail them out.

Marco looked at him with a serious gaze, "When they came to the house before I fled, they were in SWAT gear. They had guns out, face shields on. We're not ordinary citizens anymore, Ace. We may have done nothing to deserve it, but the government wants us out of the public. And no one else seemed too upset about putting devil fruit users someplace they can't hurt anyone else." Ace's face went white. He didn't know what to do. If they played it safe, they could either be bailed out by Gramps or go to jail. But if they fought, they'd be true criminals, against the law.

"I won't be taken in. I won't," Marco said firmly. "We did nothing wrong, and I won't let my freedom be taken away over something like this."

"Then we fight?" Luffy asked, confused about what they would do. "Or do we? What do we do then?" Ace shrugged, lost as well. He didn't know what the right thing to do was. And how do they find out? They couldn't just ask without giving their location away. But Ace saw the fear on Marco's face, and his resolve hardened.

Ace said, "If I go out and see what will happen, then I'll know whether we should resist. And unless they have that rock, then I should be able to burn through a chopper. This power will save me from bullets, and it's really destructive. Will you trust what I say?"

Luffy protested, but Marco put his hand on the youngest's shoulder. Marco nodded once, and he pulled Luffy into the cave. Ace walked through the trees, keeping out of sight until he was away from the cave's entrance and walked out to the nearest clearing. The chopper was there. There were two of them, one in the distance but visible to Ace.

" _Put your hands up, now!"_

Ace did so, and then was told to lay on the ground. He did so, and was biting his lip hard enough for fire to appear. The chopper lowered and landed, with six officers in heavy gear running towards him. "Stay still," one of them commanded Ace. He did so, and when a zip tie was made around his hands, he was happy to see it wasn't made of seastone. He could burn through this easily.

"What will happen to us? We've done nothing wrong," Ace said, marveling at how calm he sounded. He sounded completely at ease when his heart was hammering in his chest and he felt sweat gather behind his neck.

"You'll be put with the other devil fruit users," one of the men said flippantly, and Ace froze.

"And what will happen to us there?" Ace asked in a cold voice.

"Move! You'll be away from hurting anyone else. You freaks will all be in for life-"

"Hey! You don't just say things like that!" one of the others said, and Ace lit on fire, burning away the ziptie before he released all of his fire and caused burns at the feet of the men. "Now look what you've done!" Ace didn't need to do much else before the chopper was absolutely destroyed.

Ace hadn't done it, Newgate was there and a quake was made, rumbling the ground beneath them, opening up the ground below the feet of those meant to detain Ace.

" _It's Newgate! Open fire!"_ But Marco was there, cutting through the crowd of men, slashing with his talons and using blunt force against their heads. Luffy was there, too, and bullets were bouncing all over the clearing. Ace was shocked by their appearances, but glad. The other chopper was approaching, and Ace put his hands out and growled as he let loose a pillar of fire that engulfed the chopper, making it lose control and slam into the ground in front of them.

The four devil fruit users stood at the ruins of those meant to come and take them, put them away someplace they wouldn't get away from. Marco looked at Newgate suspiciously, wondering why he'd exposed himself like that. He just grinned. "Didn't want my new friends to have their freedom taken away," he said to Marco's look.

"You heard what he was saying?" Ace wondered. Then it hit him. They'd just obliterated military personnel. There was no going back to their old lives. Marco nodded, and Luffy was biting his lip. Ace ran to the nearest chopper, and extinguished the flames. The bodies weren't too burnt, and the pilot was still breathing.

Ace shook him awake, him crying out in pain. "Wake up! What were you doing? What were you going to do to us?" Ace demanded. He whimpered at Ace, obviously terrified of him. "Answer me!"

"I- I don't know!" the pilot cried. "We were just told to collect them! The darkness guy killed the top official at the world government, now all devil fruit users will be prosecuted!" he said shaking from both fear and the pain of his burns. Marco walked forward, and grabbed his shirt, pulling him up.

"What about the ones that haven't done anything?" he growled. Ace could feel the anger wafting off of his boyfriend. Luffy and Newgate were watching from behind Ace, who was next to Marco. The pilot flailed, terrified of them. Ace knew he must have looked like a demon, on fire and crashing the helicopter.

He shouted, "I don't know! I don't know, my orders were to help collect!" Marco dropped him, and rub his hand through his hair. The pilot crawled away, and no one paid any more attention to him.

"So, we're basically fugitives whether we're innocent or not," Luffy said, and Ace was surprised by how nicely he grasped the situation. Ace nodded, and Newgate sighed. Though it made sense he was being pursued, the other three had done nothing that was worth prosecuting. They had followed rules, cooperated with the police! There was no justifiable reason to go after them.

The government was not supposed to hunt people down when they've done nothing wrong! Marco took his hand, and looked at him seriously. It was like he could read Ace's mind, and said, "Everything has changed. Our rights are clearly null now. We have no choice but to become criminals. We already are, according to the world." Luffy asked about Garp protecting them. "Even he can't defy the top guys. He works for the world government, and if someone killed one of the five elders, well, drastic measures have clearly been taken."

Ace wrapped his arms around himself. "So, there's nothing we can do to go back?"

"Well, not after this," the blonde said, pointing to the downed choppers. "Plus, we're allied with Newgate, the man everyone is after. Just by being seen with him, we'll be grouped together. And no doubt these assholes reported our affiliation with him."

The older man frowned, and Luffy said, "Don't apologize. We were gonna be hunted anyways, right?" Newgated nodded, and crossed his arms. "Do you have any money?" The old man shook his head, he had nothing with him but the clothes on his back.

They had no money. They were flat broke, not that it mattered anymore. But they had no way to get anywhere besides walking. Marco couldn't carry all of them. And now that they'd made friends with Newgate, he was going to be going along with them. Ace walked to the smoking and downed helicopter closest to them, and shoved bodies aside, looking for anything helpful.

He found a working gps device. He pulled it out, and dusted it off. It still functioned, thankfully. "I found something that might help us," he called, holding the device up. He walked back to the group, who were still discussing what to do next. He handed Marco the small square piece of technology. "We're near a rural town, Marian. We can probably walk there."

Luffy moved to Ace and held his hand. He was seeking comfort, and Ace was glad to have it as well. "We'll be okay. We'll have to live a little differently now, though," he said calmly, hiding his inner turmoil. He just killed people. Was it right? To do it in self defense? It still made him a murderer. But, the world already saw them as evil regardless. But he didn't want to see himself as evil. This was self-defense. He knew he'd never kill anyone if he could help it, and that soothed his mind.

"I feel like we only have one thing to fear," Newgate said, chin in his hand. The younger three looked up, wondering what it was. "Other devil fruit users. I don't know much about them since I've been on the run since the beginning, but if we all have diverse powers, then there must be some pretty dangerous ones out there."

Luffy nodded. "There are a lot of useless ones, but so many haven't been reported most likely. One guy, probably the one to doom us, has sucked whole cities into a black void. Then everything was spit out from above, killing a lot of people and destroying a lot of stuff," Luffy explained to Newgate. "Ace and Marco are pretty much invincible, so it's only us we gotta worry about." He got along very well with the man.

He nodded and looked at his hand. "I will end up using this power again, but I'll make sure it's with control. The last times had been accidental. If I do it on purpose, I'm sure I can control it. At least, not destroy the world. Not make it any worse than it already is," he said in a strong voice.


	6. An Unpleasant Adventure

**Sixcupsofcoffeetogo: Thank you!**

**chickie434: Whitebeard is the best, even if that's not his name in this. Protective Pops/grandpa lol.**

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**Trigger warning for more mass murdering of citizens. Longer chapter. Enjoy~**

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Marco took Ace's hand, and they started walking, not even eating anything or drinking. They'd get something from the nearby town. The device showed many clusters of towns and cities, which was good. They had no car, and would need to walk. Well, it shouldn't take too long to steal a car. They walked through the forested areas where they couldn't easily be seen from above. No doubt more choppers or cars had been deployed.

But, they were out of sight, and the walk to the nearest town wasn't too long. They really had been very close. When the forested area dwindled, trees becoming more sparse, they aligned with a highway. There were no cars passing through it, leading them to believe that the road was inaccessible. Even if the world was falling apart, people would still be driving places. So with the highway devoid of any vehicles, they weren't going to see one anytime soon to hijack.

When they entered the town's city limits, they found a bar right away. They were hungry and thirsty. And they had no money, meaning they'd need to steal or bargain for anything. Any food or drink. And when they entered, the whole bar cleared out the moment Newgate entered. "Well that was easy," Luffy said, and ventured behind the counter to find any food.

"Get out! I'm calling the cops!" the bar owner said, standing up from previously being crouched below. He had a shotgun pointed at them. Ace walked forward, and he shot. The bullets went right through him, the holes flaming for a moment before they reformed and he was just fine.

He gripped the shaking barrel and lit it on fire, making it explode backwards. The guy was thrown into the wall of glass, and was knocked out. Ace's expression was grim, hating that this would be the norm now, until devil fruit users were given justice. But even then, the government wouldn't forget them downing two of their choppers, killing those inside of both of them.

"Baby, don't think too much. Not anymore," Marco said, touching Ace's face briefly. Ace nodded, taking a deep breath as they raided the bar's contents, finding a good amount of food and water. Of course there was water, from the tap. It was lucky that the pipelines hadn't been severed with the earthquakes. At least, not here and not yet.

Ace turned the television on, and went to a news channel, since the TV was up on the wall above the bar counter. There was no footage of anything bad, and there was no mention of anything having to do with devil fruits. Marco looked up, his arms crossed. Ace thought it was strange for it to be saying nothing about the hunt for fruit users. It was talking about football games that would still be played.

"So, they've gagged the media," Marco said with a scowl. "I doubt we'll be getting any new information anytime soon, Ace." He frowned and nodded before returning to the food.

They ate everything, and when they left, Luffy was wearing a jacket that had been abandoned in one of the booths. Ace and Marco weren't cold, and Newgate said the cold didn't bother him. He was born someplace where the temperature was usually pretty low. No one was in the parking lot, but there were three cars.

Two of them were small cars with one truck. It was bigger than Ace's, and would easily fit all three. But they didn't have the keys, and Ace didn't know how to hotwire a car. Neither did Marco or Luffy.

"I'll do it," the oldest said, and yanked the front seat's door open. When the three looked at the man in surprise, he said, "My body had become stronger since eating the fruit."

Marco commented, "It would make sense. No doubt the earthquakes are hard to use. Your body would break under the force of it, so the fruit made your body stronger." It made sense, and he asked, "How do you know how to hotwire a car?"

Newgate chuckled. "Unlike you three, I wasn't a brat that followed rules or the law." And that was very useful for them. It didn't take long for the car to start, and they all climbed inside, Ace and Luffy in the back seat while Negate and Marco took the front.

"We should get a car. One where we have the keys," Ace said suddenly, breaking the silence that had stretched on for a good ten minutes. They were following the road, wherever it took them next. They didn't go back the way they came, not knowing if the police, or whoever was deployed, was still searching for them.

Luffy asked how they would do that. "We're criminals now. Stealing a car from a dealership won't be too hard. You saw how everyone reacted to seeing Newgate. His face has been all over the news and internet, everyone is going to recognize him, and we can use that to our advantage. Ace and I, we were seen cooperating with the government. No one is gonna be afraid of us on sight, or recognize us immediately."

The car drove down the road, before they had to stop suddenly, making Luffy and Ace glad they were wearing seatbelts or they would have crashed into the back of the front seats. There was a huge chasm broken in the ground. The whole road and the land beneath it was split, a rift right in front of them. It was also full of water.

They got out of the car, and looked down at the huge split. Looking on either side, it extended quite a ways. "Looks like this either reaches a lake or the ocean. If it's ocean water, then this crack has ran through the whole continent," Marco said in disbelief. Ace and Luffy were gaping.

Ace turned to Newgate and said, "Your power is scary."

Newgate chuckled, though it wasn't a happy chuckle. "Indeed it is," he agreed in a quiet voice. "We have to turn around, it's too far for the car to jump."

Luffy frowned. "But we know there's nothing we can go back for. If we go straight back, we'll end up where we left off. We can make it across the crack if we use our powers," he said confidently. Marco pointed out that they would drown if they fell. "Then don't fall."

"I can just fly you and Ace over. I don't know about you, Newgate. You're a pretty big guy." Luffy shook his head, surprising the others. Ace asked why he shook his head, and his younger brother was wearing a determined expression.

"I want to do it on my own," he said in a firm voice. Ace was going to protest, but then backed down. He would trust Luffy.

"Marco, in case he falls you need to catch him," Ace said, and Marco nodded, forming wings and lifting into the air, waiting below the ground so he could catch Luffy if he did fall. It was interesting that Marco didn't fly like a normal bird would. He could hover without moving, like he was floating. Birds couldn't hover like that, but he was made of flaming feathers, so he wasn't exactly like a normal bird.

The three others were patiently waiting for Luffy to figure out how to get across before a look of realization finally came to him when he looked at a piece of piping sticking out and running parallel to the opposite side of the crevice. "Watch me, Ace," he said in a hard voice, and threw his arms out so his hands grabbed the piping. Ace watched nervously when Luffy drew himself back, stretching his arms to the extreme, before he snapped forward and flew across the divide, landing on the other side roughly and rolling a few times.

He smiled triumphantly, and pumped his fists into the air. "I did it!" Ace grinned and clapped, glad to see Luffy looking happy. And he was glad Luffy was safe, and had been able to use his powers for something useful. He hadn't gotten many chances to do so.

"My turn," Ace said, and ran forward, jumping at the last moment while shooting fire out of his feet, raising him higher. He barely made it, and caught onto Luffy's hand, who pulled him up. "I could use some practice at that. Your turn Newgate. Got a plan?" Ace asked with a smile, feeling light and happy. Things he hadn't felt in many days.

Newgate shook his head. His powers were useless for something like this, and it was best if he didn't use them. Especially since this was clearly an unstable area, as some rocks slipped from the edges. When Ace had pushed off, a rock had broken off and fallen into the water far below where they were standing.

Marco said he could try to fly him across. He gripped onto Newgate's arms, his talons not very gentle as they poked into the man's skin, and flew him across the divide. They looked back at the car they had to abandon. Ace pulled out the GPS, and found they had almost reached a big city. "We still have a mile until we reach it. We'll have to walk the rest of the way," the freckled man said. It really was lucky that they had the device. It was a life saver. "Not too long of a walk."

The four began walking in the middle of the road. There were many cracks in the asphalt, but not deep. There were collapsed trees, though. And they looked to the side to see the power lines had ripped apart, with the telephone poles leaning to one side or the other. They walked for around half an hour before the city limits came into view. Newgate was luckily very fit for his age. He'd told them he was sixty two. He looked older. Maybe wiser. One or the other. Or maybe both.

When the first spotted the city, they saw the shape it was in, and that it was smoking in some places. It was a quite large city, so there had to be plenty of car dealerships in it. They would get an offroad vehicle, since so many roads were broken and unusable. They'd be able to go offroad when necessary.

They had no goal in mind. In the long term. The goal now was to get a car and be safe. In the long run, none of them knew. They had no idea what to expect next. Finding a place they could live at in peace would be nice. Maybe find a yacht or something and bring it to an unpopulated island. Who knows? Just keep moving, stay free and alive.

The first street they walked through was full of burned down businesses. There were blood stains on the ground, but no bodies. It was so quiet, and they saw that there were impressions in the walls of many of the buildings. Like something had been embedded in it before, but wasn't there anymore.

It was too quiet, but the further they got into the city, looking for anything helpful for them to find their way, it got louder. There was the hum of electricity and the buzzing of street lamps as the sun set. They'd need to find someplace to sleep. Ace couldn't believe he hadn't even been a whole day since they willingly, grudgingly, became criminals.

"Oh, what do we have here?" a cocky voice said from the side, and the four turned to see a manic looking man with a small nose, crazy eyes, blonde hair and a scar on his face. Then he laid his eyes on Newgate, and raised his brows. "Everyone's been looking for you. Though we devil fruit users are grateful for you to usher in a new era," he said with a grin, and then a laugh.

Newgate didn't like this, and glared at him with a frosty expression. "You got some little friends with you? You devil fruit users as well, or weak normies?"

Marco replied with, "None of your business."

"Don't be so cold. My name is Bellamy, why don't you join my gang? You can run this city with us," Bellamy said with a smirk, like he actually thought that they would agree to his stupid offer. Ace thought he was an idiot. A jackass idiot. His face irritated the fire user. He wanted him to get out of his sight now. And he didn't like Luffy being anywhere near this guy.

Ace replied with, "We're not interested." The four began to walk again, though they kept their attention and senses attuned to what the guy would do. They heard a cackle, and before Ace could move, Bellamy had shot himself right through Ace's body. He landed with springs as legs. It looked like a stupid fruit.

The enemy looked shocked, and Ace blasted a huge plume of fire at him. He barely dodged. Bellamy scowled, and then went at Marco, only his reflexes had gotten better after eating his fruit, and he easily dodged, grabbing down on Bellamy's arm, yanking him back. When he pulled him up, Luffy punched him, and Newgate unexpectedly hit him with his fist, the air cracking white, before Bellamy was catapulted into the nearest wall.

Newgate's power was used but didn't destroy everything around him. He looked happy with it. "Warn us next time," Marco said, and the oldest man chuckled and said that he would.

Bellamy was still barely alive, gasping for air with much of his face broken. "Y-ou can't take my-my turf," he growled through broken teeth.

"We have no desire to take your turf, and we have no desire to join you," Ace said, and the four walked down the street. "There are probably more here." Marco agreed, and the other two had serious expressions. Ace looked to the side, and saw just barely movement in the window. "There are people in these buildings. It's like a ghost town, but there are people."

Newgate replied, "Probably too afraid to come out. But there's the real risk of having the authorities called on us." Marco reminded him of all the downed cell towers they'd seen. And that if there were still authorities in this town, they would have stopped Bellamy.

A crack was made and a building across the street crumbled, leaving a cloud of dust that soon was carried away by the wind. "It's like a town out of a dystopian movie," Luffy said quietly.

Ace sighed and looked up at the cloudy sky. It had been clear but clouds had moved on. Not rain clouds, thankfully. He turned to Luffy and said, "It is a dystopia now, Lu. Not fiction, unfortunately. The world had ended, or at least changed permanently."

The four of them were silent after that, all lost in their own thoughts though they still were aware of any movements around them. They came across a group of people all playing card games at the table of an outdoor seating area of a broken down restaurant. They had drinks, though. There were a few men and women. Mostly men.

"What's this? I thought Bellamy was gonna take them out," a guy with light blue hair said. Marco bluntly told them that Bellamy was most likely dead already. That he went out with only a few hits. The men stood up angrily before they finally laid eyes on Newgate, before backing up in fear. When he started to speak, to ask if they knew where a car dealership was, they screamed and ran away.

Luffy shot and arm forward and grabbed the scruff of the man who had spoken, yanking him back as he screamed. "Hey, do you know where a place we can buy cars is?" he asked in a simple voice. Free of any cruelty, just asking for directions. The guy was shaking in fear.

"D-Down the street and to the left for a while," he said, voice trembling as he sweat profusely.

They thanked him, and before Luffy let him go, Marco said, "If you're lying, we'll find you and you'll end up like Bellamy," before he ran off. Ace looked at Marco in surprise. And he looked sick at what he'd said, but didn't take it back. Ace thought he had been strong emotionally, pushing fear back, but he didn't like this anymore than Ace did.

And though these things would make it seem like Marco had changed, he was still Marco, Ace's Marco. Just more stressed and cold towards anyone he saw as a threat. He was being protective, even if he had to wear armor of cruelty. Ace knew he'd never hurt him and Luffy. They were a family, and Marco cherished family.

Ace wished they had a way to know if Thatch and Izo were okay. If they hadn't been taken in for affiliating with the three. And Luffy's friends wouldn't be taken in since they hadn't been with him since before he ate the devil fruit. So they were safe. Ace had no friends, and their only family was Garp, who was no doubt exempt from negative consequences with having two rogue fruit users as grandkids.

He must be furious with them. Well, it didn't matter to them. Nothing would have helped them if the government was attempting to take all devil fruit users into custody. Ace wondered if there were any officials in the marines or government that had eaten a devil fruit. Surely there was at least one.

It seemed that there had been some incident with a devil fruit user in this city other than Bellamy. It was a huge city so it wouldn't be surprising there was more than one. And they'd learned that devil fruits seemed to be dotted around the world in clusters. Where they appeared. Since Ace, Marco and Luffy had all eaten theirs at the same place.

There was a tower of a hard, blue substance that was spiked through a cop car. A downed helicopter was there, burnt bodies inside. Ace looked away, and Marco put his arm around his shoulders, rubbing up and down his arm.

Ace had killed those guys, but their bodies weren't torched like these ones. Hopefully, whoever had made that tower of blue wasn't there anymore. In this area, there were a few people out, coming out of the grocery store, which had been looted, the windows and doors shattered.

Next to that store was the car dealership. They easily chose a large truck that was still comfortable for them to all sit in. The key was inside, and Newgate ripped off the boot to keep it from being stolen, and Marco got into the driver's seat. "Why don't we get some groceries while we're over here?" he asked. "Who knows when the next city we'll stop at will be?"

"Good point," Newgate said, and they drove their new car across the cracked street and to the grocery store. Ace stayed outside with the car, to make sure no one took it, while the other three went in to get water and as many non-perishables as they could. As he sat on the roof of the truck, watching the area, he saw just how scared the normal people were. Everyone had fled the store once Newgate appeared.

When there was the sound of a siren in the distance, Ace stood and saw three cop cars pull up. They all pulled out guns, telling him to get on the ground. Ace didn't of course, and knew he could take care of this. He'd have to kill again, but there was no other way for them to leave safely unless he took these ones out.

He walked forward, away from the truck so bullets wouldn't hurt the vehicle and headed closer to the cars, face dark and determined. The authorities started shooting, and the bullets, of course, went right through him. He held up his hands and shot forth two huge plumes of fire. He wasn't in very good control of it, so it was much too powerful and burst into the sporting goods shop across the street. Both the cars and shop were on fire.

The officers all died or were badly burnt that they needed medical attention right away. He sucked the flames back, and all that was left were destroyed and smoking cars and a charred and broken shop. The windows had already been broken, so the fire had no resistance. Plus, the waves of fire had been too powerful for glass to stop any of it, anyways.

Ace looked at what he'd done with a sad expression, but turned his back and walked back to the car. Anyone who had been outside had fled after that. His companions came out with bags loaded with cans and bagged food that wouldn't rot. Newgate was carrying two big things of water bottles. They put it in the bed of the truck and got inside.

Marco looked to the still-smoking cars, and Ace said, "Someone had called the police. We should probably head out." Marco nodded and started the truck, driving away right before an explosion rocked the city behind them. It wouldn't have harmed them, since it wasn't near the car dealership or grocery store they'd raided. It was from deeper in the city, and plumes of dust were up in the air, leading Ace to believe some more buildings had fallen.

"Do you think many cities are like this?" Luffy asked sadly, looking out of Ace's window at the shirking city.

"Probably a lot. The government has forsaken devil fruit users, meaning they have no reason to follow the law and not use their powers however they wish. And they won't have any choice but to turn to crime. Stealing things or killing those who come after them. It's kill or be killed now," Ace explained dryly, looking at the city as well.

Luffy moved his hand to hold Ace's. The freckled brother smiled and gripped Luffy's hand back. The car was quiet for a bit before Newgate attempted to turn on the radio. It was all static, and they couldn't help but laugh when the only station that was working was for country music. Since there was no other alternative, they listened to music made in a different era.

"I know this song," Newgate said.

"No singing," Luffy said, and Ace chuckled. Newgate took it well and just said he wouldn't. The highway they were on did have cars, but none were driving in the direction they'd come from. They were driving where the four were headed, wherever that was.

It felt almost normal if it weren't for the big or small cracks in the asphalt, or the broken down cars littering the side of the road. Or the deep crack in the ground that had been an offramp with cars piled inside of it, stacked on one another and destroyed. Ace looked away before he saw if there were any dead bodies inside.

Newgate was frowning deeply, and Ace felt pity for him once again. But, there was no way to fix the damage, so all he could do was accept what his power had done and try to move on. Now that he was a wanted criminal, there was no way to atone for that.

"I want to thank you three, for not seeing me as a monster and allowing me to tag along," Newgate said suddenly, voice very serious. The other three were surprised with it, since they never spoke of things like this. It was night time now, and they had a feeling they would be sleeping in the car, but only Luffy was sleepy.

Marco replied first. "If you're a monster, we're monsters, too. We've had to start over, you can start over, too," he said simply, not taking his eyes off the road. Cars were still there with them, and by now cars were also driving on the other side of the road in the direction away from the broken and looted city they'd left behind.

Since the road was littered with cracks and potholes, many cars had started to drive on the other side, moving back and forth between sides to avoid the uneven parts of the road. It was nice knowing the truck they had was meant for offroad and the tires were thick and the whole thing durable.

Luffy finally fell asleep, head against the window, banging on it repeatedly with every bump. Though he was rubber now, that didn't hurt him and he stayed asleep. Ace said, "We were a small family, so there's room and you're welcome to join it." He knew Marco and Luffy wouldn't protest. Newgate has helped them out a lot, even if it was using the public's fear of him to let them do what they wished.

Newgate grinned and laughed. "I'll be glad to join, then. You're like the sons I've never had."

Ace and Marco chuckled. "We won't be well behaved sons, so don't expect us to be," Marco said, voice light and cheery. Newgate replied that he wasn't a well behaved man either, so they fit together very well.

The freckled young man said, "Man, Gramps would be so furious with us." Newgate asked about him, and Ace told him about his and Luffy's grandfather. How crazy he was, but that he also looked out for them and provided them money while all three were full time students. Newgate thought it was a strange fate that the grandchildren of someone working to persecute devil fruit users were ones themselves, and we're now on the run.

"Yeah, it's pretty ironic. Though his status can never get us out of trouble now," Ace commented. He started to drift to sleep, and Newgate and Marco were silent when he finally fell to sleep.

He was awoken an hour or so later when a deafening crack was made and the car swerved to a sudden stop, throwing all of them forward in their seats, though they had all been wearing seatbelts. In front of them, they could see a huge black space. They heard rushing water as well, and saw as a huge tidal of water was approaching them. Cars began to turn around, but the ground was splitting behind them, too.

"Stay in here!" Marco shouted,and closed the door, getting out and climbing on top of the car. Ace could hear him stepping on the roof of the car. And was surprised when flaming talons stabbed into the roof of it, lighting up the interior a bright blue. Ace didn't say anything about Marco not being able to carry something so heavy. He tried lifting, but couldn't.

Newgate said, "I have an idea!" The water was rushing closer, and he told Marco to hang on as he moved to the driver's seat. He backed the truck up and shouted for Marco to be ready to lift.

"Ready!" he shouted, voice carrying from the holes in the roof of the car. Ace was uneasy about what was about to happen, but said nothing. Just hold onto Luffy and the handle near the top of the window. Newgate pressed on the gas hard, making them speed forward, towards the newly formed chasm. The ground splintered and tiled backwards, giving them more lift as the car flew off of the road and into the crack.

Only they were lifted up and carried the space and landed hard on the other side, looking back to see water flooding the cars behind them. "Drive!" Marco shouted, now dropped in the bed of the truck and holding on as Newgate sped the car forward, away from the chasm which seemed to be widening. Soon it was a deep river of water that continued to flow, which meant the crack went inland further.

But they got out of range enough to be safe. Newgate pulled over to let Marco back in. "Marco, you carried the car," Luffy said in awe. "You're so cool!"

Ace was grinning, proud of his strong boyfriend. And glad Newgate was smart, and thought on the spot a way for them to get across. Definitely not safely, but successfully. Ace looked back, through the small window in the back, to see that that section of road was completely under water. He did feel bad for the people, but didn't think about it too long.

It was midnight and Marco was exhausted, as was Newgate, so they went off road and into a forested area, far from the highway. They had the headlights off since Marco's senses had enhanced after eating the fruit. They ended up sleeping in the car, and though Ace was supposed to be on watch, he fell asleep. But, nothing happened and they slept until late morning. Ace woke up and made sure not to tell them he fell asleep.

Breakfast was food they'd gotten from the store. It was hearty, and Marco had bought a pan and a frying pan to take advantage of Ace's power. So, they had some pancakes that Marco held over Ace's flaming hands. It really was a convenient power sometimes. But it was also very destructive. At least he could actually use it, unlike Newgate.

Well, he'd used it against Bellamy, but it was useless unless he was fighting.

They had just finished the last of the pancakes (slightly burnt but still good) when Marco looked up, and looked to the distance. "What's up?" Ace asked, noticing the sudden behavior change first.

"I can hear a helicopter," he said. "I'll be back," he said, and flew off. Ace shouted for him to come back, so worried his lover would be hurt, but Luffy put his hand on Ace's shoulder. "He's strong. Don't worry," his younger brother said confidently. Ace bit his lip, but nodded.

He heard the sound of an explosion, two of them, before it went silent. None of them had heard the chopper, but had heard the explosions. Ace waited with bated breath until Marco was back, and landed lightly in front of them, shifting his body back to normal. Ace hugged him tightly, kissing him. "Were you worried?" Ace nodded. "Well, I'm fine."

"What happened?" Luffy wondered.

"I took down two choppers. Since the blades can't hurt me, I ripped them off completely and they both fell and exploded. I was there too fast for them to even start shooting. They had machine gun turrets, so they clearly weren't for news or anything not-threatening to us. We should leave anyway, though," Marco explained, taking Ace's hand.

They put the cooking ware and food stuff back into the bed of the truck before Ace drove this time.

It felt endless, just driving in one direction, seeing evidence of the world's ongoing collapse. Broken roads, empty cars, freshly dead bodies. Ace felt like he had to harden his soul to deal with everything. He knew even if he wasn't on this side, the devil fruit user side, life would never be the same again.

The next city they came across was different. It wasn't destroyed, but it was a mess as well. The street was crowded and they couldn't get through because of the huge crowd of people holding signs. Protestors.

They slowly made their way through the crowd, understanding that these weren't anti-fruit user people. They held signs promoting peace with them, even as fruit users destroyed their world. There were signs of the uniformal devil fruit _not_ crossed out. Drawings of hand holding. One message was consistent "humans are humans".

Ace made sure to go through slowly, and people _saw_ Newgate, and didn't harm them, or try to stop the truck. The four were all very nervous as they were surrounded by people. Luffy was balling his fists, biting his lip harshly. But they made it through, only to hear shooting and screaming.

He couldn't help it, he got out and ran to help the people that had let them drive through, knowing one or more of them had been devil fruit users. Some had even given them kind looks, ones of understanding. It had made Ace feel a little hope, that _maybe_ things could go back to normal some day.

The people screamed, abandoning the signs to run from the shooters. He prepared himself to have to face government officials or military personnel. Marco and Luffy were there, and Newgate had stayed behind, which was the right move, he was too noticeable, anyone could recognize them. And not all would react the way that band of protestors had.

It wast military personnel, but other citizens with machine guns. Ace was horrified. He didn't want to kill regular people, and these were. Touting guns or not. Ace could hear them chanting something, but screams drowned the words out. Ace helped a woman up and pushed her in the direction the protesters were running to for safety.

Bloody bodies littered the ground, and a bullet finally hit Ace, going through him and exposing he was a devil fruit user. "Kill 'em!" they shouted, aiming their various guns at the three. Marco was there, trying to get Ace away until both of them were shot at by dozens of people, bullets riddling them and leaving holes of fire throughout their bodies. Luffy was behind them, taking the bullets that bounced off of him in different directions.

Ace glared darkly at them for hitting Luffy, and shot plumes of flames at them, some of the guns exploding from the fire encasing them. Screams were made, but from the "bad guys" now. Ace didn't stop until they were all unable to move. They moaned in pain, and all of the original protesters were gone, having run around a corner for cover from the bullets.

The fire user was breathing heavily, angry, _furious,_ and looked at all of the people who had been killed, not by his powers. Marco grabbed Ace's arm and pulled him backwards. "We're leaving, now, Ace," he said, dragging Ace back a bit before he turned and sprinted back to the car with his brother and lover. The street that had been previously loud with screaming, chanting and gun fire was now silent, until more shooting was sounded, echoing in the alleyways between the buildings. A few explosions were made as they jumped into the truck and drove away, Newgate driving while Marco had his arm around Ace in the backseat as he breathed heavily.

He was having a panic attack, which was long overdue. But Marco helped him through it, and he calmed as the street was rocked by explosions. More than a few buildings were heard crumbling, and dust flew through the street perpendicular to them.

Newgate swerved around glass and debris that could possibly give them a flat tire at the worst time. Ace turned to the side and saw the entire street had turned to sand, decimated and dry. A devil fruit user no doubt. Newgate didn't look at anything but the road, speeding too fast to be safe in normal times.

He finally asked if they were alright. "We're unhurt," Marco replied. He said nothing else, and neither did the other two. The inside of the car was silent as booms and screams were heard. There were a bunch of decimated cop cars and a pile of sand in the street, so Newgate swerved not realizing this street was full of people, and he drove right into them, throwing them to the ground.

"Don't stop," Ace said quietly. "Some have guns." Newgate grit his teeth and sped up, ramming people in the street without hesitation. Luffy had his hands over his eyes, crying silently. Ace put his hand to Luffy's, leaning forward to reach since he was in the front seat. He used his other hand to cover Luffy's eyes for him. He said nothing. There was nothing to say to make them feel better.

By the time they were on another, empty street, the hood of the car was splattered with blood, but none on the windshield. Ace looked at his feet with a blank face. There was blood on his left boot from when he was standing with the dead, peaceful protesters. He wiped it on the carpet of the floor, and then looked at Marco. "You're not a monster," he said, reading Ace's expression like he was an open book. And he was to Marco.

But Ace disagreed. He'd burnt so many people already, what would he be like the longer this lasted? He was about to say something before the entire city went up in flames, exploding with so much force it shoved the truck forward, jerking them all. The three not driving whipped around and saw a flying over the city. It had a military logo on it, of course.

The military destroyed a whole city, full of people. Ace put his hand over his mouth and Newgate sped up to not have the flames reach them. He barely made it, the fire licking the back of the car, but not popping the tires of setting the rest of it on fire.

Luffy rolled down the window and threw up, but they didn't stop, only sped up along the broken highway, swerving when possible and flying over cracks and rifts, though they weren't too big. Marco turned around and saw the jet was facing their direction and getting closer. "They're gonna shoot us!" Luffy screamed.

"Not on my watch!" Marco growled, and rolled down his window, forcing his body out before taking flight. Ace watched as his boyfriend sped to the jet high in the sky in full flaming bird form, reaching and thrusting his legs through the glass windshield of it, pulling it outwards and then entering the cockpit. Ace couldn't see him anymore, but the jet started to tilt before it dove towards the ground, falling from the sky at a rapid speed and crashed into a broken and flaming building, causing a second explosion as Marco flew out of the flames.

He landed in the back of the truck, unable to get back in through the window when the car was going so fast. He was crouched and watching what was left of the big city burn. It was unsettling silent as the fire raged. The three couldn't keep their eyes off of the scene as it got smaller the further they got away. But once it was out of view, the smoke rising from it was still easily visible.

Luffy was sobbing, hunched over in his seat. "The government bombed a whole city," Ace said in disbelief. "Full of regular people. Was it all to destroy any devil fruit user? Or was it because there were people there that supported us?"

Newgate said, "Most likely both." Ace couldn't believe it. It had to be a mistake, but that jet was obviously military. Regular people didn't exactly have things like that. And the government had teamed up with the military, meaning that their _government_ that was supposed to _protect them_ had killed thousands of innocent people. Normal humans who weren't doing anything to harm the government.

How many children, babies had been there? Had been murdered by those meant to keep them safe? This seriously was a dystopia that seemed to be getting worse every single day. And they didn't even know what else was happening that they didn't witness first hand. What was happening in other places? Who was being killed? Who was losing their freedom?

He was horrified by what the world had become. Ace watched the smoke rise, blackening the sky, before he finally forced himself to turn around, his hands balled into fists so tight his knuckles were white.

They drove until it became dark, Marco sitting in the back still, and found a dinky hotel a little bit away from an onramp. "We're going there. After what's happened, we're not sleeping in the truck," Newgate said, and no one argued. He slowed to get off of the freeway, which had been in good shape for a long stretch of the empty land. Before they got to the hotel, Marco flew off of the truck and to the nearest power and phone lines to cut them. No one could call for them on the phone or over the internet if the power was out.

And they would see fine with both Marco and Ace's emitting light from their devil fruits. They entered the motel, shoving the locked doors open, and found someone trying to turn the lights on. "We're closed! And the power is out!" she shouted, seeing Marco lit up with obvious devil fruit powers.

"We know," Marco said, and ripped a curtain down before he forced the woman on her stomach and tied her up, then taking her scarf and gagging her. "We'll let you up tomorrow. If you get any help, we'll burn this place down with you inside. Otherwise, we'll be peaceful customers," he said in a flat voice, eyes devoid of any emotion.

Luffy picked up a room key from the desk and they headed to a room in the second story that had a window facing to the middle of nowhere instead of at the highway. There were two beds in the biggest room, both of them king sized. They found there was food in the minifridge that had only just lost power, so they ate what was in there, and then took turns showering before they collapsed onto the beds, Luffy and Ace sharing one while Macro Shared with Newgate.


	7. The End Of the Old World

**Trying_To_Be_Happy_: Thank you! It wasn't very popular, but oh well. I'm glad you liked it! I hope the ending is satisfying.**

**Sixcupsofcoffetogo: <3 <3 <3 <3**

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No one was on watch, too emotionally and physically exhausted. When they woke, it was to the sunlight streaming through the window. Luffy sat up first and woke Ace. "Time to go," he said sadly. Ace woke the other two, as it seemed like late morning outside.

They took the small water bottles that had been in the minifridge and filled them up with tap water again before leaving. They found the woman had not gotten out of her binds, and Marco untied her and took the gag out. They left without another word, leaving the room key on the front desk.

When they entered the car, Marco got in the front seat. "We need gas," he said. It had been full when they'd gotten it from the car dealership. "There's most likely one at the next off ramp, so we should wait until then. It's not near empty, but it would be best to get some gas just to be safe. Who knows how long we'll be driving today." They all agreed, and on they went. The never ending drive to nowhere.

-x-

It was two hours later that another city came into view, one that wasn't broken. It was in good condition, and it put all of them on guard immediately. There was no road to drive around it, and trees were on either side, so they couldn't go offroad to go around it. So they had no choice but to drive right through, quickly so there was no chance of being stopped or shot at by civilians or government affiliated soldiers or cops.

When they got to the middle of the city, near a park that was trashed and filled with garbage, Marco slammed on the breaks when he saw something the others didn't. He swore as the car swerved and then the tires popped loudly, throwing the front of the truck tilted down slightly. In a moment guns were pulled on them from around corners and inside nearby buildings.

"Fuck!" Ace swore. "What do we do?" he asked frantically. Luffy had his hands over his mouth in fear and horror.

Marco said, "I don't know if we can fight back with this many people. There's only one choice. Destroy the city, Newgate," Marco instructed in a dark voice. "The car will be destroyed, as will most other cars, but it would throw these guys off their feet and cause mayhem. Kill or be killed."

The others nodded, and they slowly got out of the car. They put their hands up and were rushed at before Newgate moved to slam his fist in the air, they were all caught in nets that made them lose control of their body and slump to the ground. Looked like the government found out about seastone. There was nothing they could do to fight back as guns were aimed at them.

Would they be saved from the guns from their powers or was the seastone taking away that ability? Or maybe they had seastone bullets. But no bullets were fired, instead they were tranquilized. Marco was the only one who wasn't instantly unconscious, and he was manhandled through the net and had cuffs put on him made out of seastone, which was then done to Ace and the others.

He was dragged screaming profanities while the other three were carried or dragged away into a car that housed others who were also unconscious. Fellow devil fruit users. Marco was the only one awake as they were taken to wherever they'd go, their freedom lost, after all that work.

-x-

When Ace woke up, he was on an uncomfortable mattress, caged in a dark corridor. Then he remembered what had happened, and looked down to see he had seastone cuffs on, nullifying his powers and leaving him physically exhausted. He walks to the bars, putting his hands around them. But they were made of seastone as well.

"Shit…" he swore. He called out his brother, lover and new friends' names, and got a weak moan back from Luffy, whose voice wasn't far. No reply from Newgate or Marco. "Luffy, are you hurt?" he called.

"N-No," he said tiredly. "Where are we?" he asked in a small voice.

"I… don't know," he replied, and then asked when Luffy had woken up. Only a few moments ago, meaning he had no information Ace didn't have. He worried about Marco. He went back to the bed and sat down, wondering why they were in slightly-comfortable cells. They were criminals and murderers.

He and Luffy waited quietly for anything to happen, before they heard footsteps coming closer, and Ace hurried to the bars, wondering who it was and what they were going to do with them. The lights were turned on, and they saw that there were cells across from them, holding many people who were knocked out and had cuffs like they did. Other devil fruit users.

There was one guy with a spotted hat and black hair, who was slumped against the wall, another man who was dressed like a clown though his makeup was smeared, and a cell that held three women, one with green hair, another with orange hair and one with black hair. Ace assumed there were others that he couldn't see well, but was distracted from his thoughts when someone they knew were then in front of them. Garp.

He looked at them sadly, and Ace looked away, not wanting to face him. "I'm sorry this happened to you," he said simply, and it shocked Ace. He expected to be hated and screamed at. "I'm sorry that it has come to this. I am unable to help you."

"Grandpa…" Luffy said sadly. While Ace would usually be angry with Garp, all he felt was sadness, the feelings mirrored by his grandfather.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking regretful. "Even if you had cooperated, you would still be here. I cannot bring myself to feel anger at you for fighting for freedom."

Ace finally faced him, and the stone cold look on. "The military destroyed an entire city with a bomb. We saw it, barely escaped. What else is the military and government doing? We're been out of the loop for a while. What's going on, Gramps? What's happened to the world?" he asked desperately, sitting in front of the bars, which Garp then did, cross legged and looking so tired. He had bags under his eyes.

He started, "Everything has been dismantled. More earthquakes have happened, and half of north america has been sunk into the ocean besides sites and state areas that were mountainous, making small islands. All islands previously have sunk or been obliterated, and Alaska and Hawaii are gone. Most of Australia is underwater as well.

"Nuclear power plants have melted down and into the ocean, polluting the water with radiation. Other parts have risen up to make a huge wall across the world. Geologists don't know what to expect. Nothing is happening how we've predicted it to. Billions of people are dead, more and more with every shift of the earth.

"It's like a completely different world," he sighed. Ace was shocked. Though he really shouldn't be. But how had they not encountered the ocean on their drive? They'd drove for a very long time. Did they just choose the right roads out of luck? They were lucky to survive so long. But who knows if this place was safe either? "The internet is down, so no one is getting any news except through the newspaper, which is difficult to come across and is not portraying anything how it is. They've brushed everything done against the civilians under the rug, just glorifying the government and military. I am a part of it, and I couldn't be more disgusted." Ace wondered how he was saying all of this without being caught. Was it mutiny, to speak like this?

"So, we're digressing as a society? Technology and energy has fallen off the map," Ace asked. Garp nodded. Luffy was staying silent, and hadn't said a thing. Ace wished they could share a cell.

Garp then told them about how they were treating devil fruit users. They were being hunted down, but trying not to kill them as much as they could, only take them into custody. "You will not be killed. The fruits have not been appearing next to the bodies anymore, but are found someplace else in the world. If you are all killed, then the devil fruits will have new owners somewhere else.

"You will be here the rest of your life," he said, biting his lip. "Once everyone is caught, I'll fight for conditions to be better for you. I don't know how long that will take, though." Ace frowned, knowing he'd never be free again. With seastone, they couldn't exactly make an uprising and escape the prison.

"Where is Marco, Gramps?" Ace asked, desperately worried for his lover. "Is he okay?" He searched Garp's expression, but found nothing. Marco couldn't be dead. He couldn't. They wouldn't do that, Garp just said they wouldn't. Especially one that is so powerful.

But he was glad when the marine said, "He's being held in a special cell, along with the other more dangerous zoans. That's what the animal devil fruit users are now called. As of now, he's in the same area as the dinosaur zoans and the mythical ones. We caught the dragon who wreaked havoc in Asia after appearing here. With the aid of seastone, it's possible to catch everyone. It will take awhile since we just lost connection with satellites and can't see from above."

Ace asked what happened to marines who ate fruits. Surely some had, even on accident. Would they hurt their own people? Well, they killed their own civilians, non-fruit users, so he wouldn't be surprised if this place was full of marines or government officials as well.

"They have been taken in as well. Even the head of the military is no longer free. Many of my friends and colleagues are behind bars," he said sadly. "And now my family is as well." He looked so devastated, and Ace felt bad for him. He couldn't help it. Garp had joined the military to help people, protect people, and now look at his job. To steal the freedom of citizens and be part of the organization that decimated cities, whole cities. How many people had died from other humans? Were they counting those deaths in the billions of people now dead?

Ace was quiet for a moment before asking, "How is travel working? Oil rigs aren't working anymore, how will they power vehicles? Surely the world will run out quickly." They were lucky they'd found a car, but now it was useless. Would they have even been able to get gas if they had reached a station before getting caught?

Garp nodded. "It is true we're quickly running out of fuel. Travel across land will last for a bit more, but airplanes have run out of fuel or been destroyed. The only way anyone could go from island to island would be by boat. Countries are gone, now everything is islands. Even most of Europe is gone, and Eurasia has been split apart from that huge wall of land."

Ace felt anger at Newgate before it dissipated immediately. He hadn't meant for this to happen, and no doubt felt the most guilt out of every single person on the planet. He'd hidden it well, but Ace had noticed every time they came across a large crack or fissure in the ground, his eyes drifted downwards each time.

"I can't bring myself to despise Newgate anymore. He didn't ask for this to happen. And while I once held disgust for devil fruit users, I now feel pity. Even those who have used their powers for evil, I feel pity," he confessed. He had really changed through all of this. At least he was free. But he was miserable. Ace asked if he was going to be in trouble for his views. "Most likely. I am horrified with the reaction my colleagues have had. So many are now heinous with their power.

"Combining the power of the government fully with the military was a mistake. I wish I could leave, but now that you two are in custody, I can't bring myself to quit. I promise I will visit and do my best to make this life a bit more comfortable for you. I love you both and am sorry you were born in this world. I am lucky, I have lived my life in normalcy, doing good for the world. But you're both so young.

"I will visit later and bring you food. Don't let your spirits get broken," he said strongly. Ace had tears streaming down his face, mourning his old life, and Luffy was sobbing. "I am sorry." And he left. Ace curled into a ball, burying his face in his knees, and shaking with sobs.

-x- Two years later -x-

Ace walked out into the sunlight, looking at the blue sky in awe. Marco and Luffy were next to him, holding each hand. They were finally let out of their cells. With all of them having seastone circulating through their body, they were completely powerless to even think of using their powers. They weren't cuffed, and were free to walk around the recently built detention center.

Of course, those who were still violent were in their own area, but they were let out to walk around as well. The last two years had been horrible. Ace hadn't seen his brother or lover the whole time, though he was able to speak to Luffy since their cells were side by side, even if he couldn't see his face.

Ace had long since accepted that this was how his life would be for the rest of it. He was just glad to be out of his cell, and have his own bed. He was able to share his room with Marco. Luffy had his own room, which Ace knew he'd share with Law, who he'd developed feelings for during their time across from his cell. It was nice that he returned them.

All technology had been nullified in the last two years. No more internet, cellphones, music, cameras, or vehicles other than ships that had to sail like those so long ago. They didn't know much about the world other than most of the earthquakes had stopped or were at least less strong than before and climate change had warped to cause horrible storms in certain parts of the world. And drilling into the ocean for oil had been banned due to it causing problems. The world was still in terrible shape, even if it was stable.

Everything had changed, and the world would never be the same again. But even with them all caged, there was hope for future generations of devil fruit users. After all, even in confinement, no one can live forever, and those devil fruits would appear in other parts of the world.

With travel limited, and cameras gone, it was hard to find those that ate them. Not a single new devil fruit user had been added to the prison since over a year ago.

Ace leaned over to kiss Marco. "I missed you," he said. Marco smiled, and hugged him back while Luffy ran off to touch Law for the first time, holding his hand. Ace smiled at it, and he and Marco walked to the grass under a tree.

There was just enough diluted seastone to keep their powers away, but they could still move like normal people. They could pretend they were normal, but they weren't and would never live normal lives. But for now, Ace could be thankful just to be under the sun again.

Newgate walked over and sat behind them. "I missed you, sons."

"Missed you, too, Pops," Ace said, and Newgate laughed. No one asked why he'd addressed them as sons, and no one asked why Ace, Marco and Luffy wouldn't even call him Newgate again.

"The sunlight sure is nice," the old man said, and the two younger men agreed, basking in the slice of freedom they finally had acquired.

-x- 6000 years later -x-

_Wealth. Fame. Power. The man who had achieved everything in life, like none before him, was the Pirate King, Gold Roger. The few words he spoke at his execution drove people the world over to take to the seas:_

_"My treasure? If you want it, you can have it. Seek it out! I left everything in my life at that place!"_

_Men, bound for the Grand Line, will chase after their dreams. The world is about to witness a Great Age of Piracy!_

And another huge change in the world began. The records of the world from long ago were lost, gone for forever, with no one knowing how the normal world ended, all because a couple strange fruits were discovered.

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**Surprise! The modern world ended up turning into the One Piece world! The pollution in the water created the sea kings, and the change in the planet's structure caused the other stuff. I know there are some pretty big plot holes in the ending, so no reason to point them out. Hope those who read liked it!**


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